(     :        ;NWEALTHS 

Edited     by 


HORACE  E.  SCUDDER 


american 


EDITED    BY 


HORACE  E.  SCUDDER. 


MAP  O1 
MICHIGAN  TERRITORY 

to  Illustrate  War  of  1812. 

10  -JO 


MICHIGAN 

TO  ACCOMPANY 

T.  M.  COOLEY'S 

MICHIGAN  in    AMERICAN  COMMONWEALTHS 

0       10     20     30     40     50      ep      70      80     80      100 


9°     Washington  8' 


511mratan 


MICHIGAN 


SIXTH    EDITION 


BOSTON 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

New  York:    11   East  Seventeenth  Street 

»,  €amtrit>0e 

1892 


Copyright,  1885, 
BT  THOMAS  M.  COOLET. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A: 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Company. 


PREFACE. 


THE  changes  of  sovereign  as  well  as  of  subordi- 
nate jurisdiction  have  been  greater  in  Michigan 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  American  Union. 
France,  Great  Britain,  and  the  United  States  have 
successively  had  dominion  over  it,  and  under  the 
United  States  it  was  part  of  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory and  of  the  Territory  of  Indiana  before  it  be- 
came the  Territory  of  Michigan.  As  Michigan 
Territory  it  passed  through  all  the  grades  of 
subordinate  jurisdiction,  and  the  circumstances 
attending  its  admission  to  the  Union  made  its  his- 
tory at  that  period  quite  unique.  Altogether  it 
seemed  appropriate  that  in  the  series  of  American 
Commonwealths  the  history  of  Michigan  should 
be  sketched  as  a  history  of  governments  ;  but  this 
would  be  incomplete  without  a  summary  view  of 
the  relations  of  States  to  the  Union  at  the  time 
Michigan  was  received  into  it,  or  without  some 


yi  PREFACE. 

notice  of  the  remarkable  changes  which  have  been 
going  on  since  that  time,  and  which  have  so 
greatly  affected  constitutional  questions  and  the 
political  habits  of  mind  and  tendencies  of  the 
American  people.  It  was  also  thought  proper  to 
present  the  financial  history  of  the  State  with 
some  fullness,  because  it  was  believed  to  inculcate 
a  lesson  of  more  than  local  importance.  But  no 
attempt  has  been  made  to  give  the  annals  of  the 
State  as  a  substitute  for  other  histories,  nor,  with 
the  field  so  well  occupied  as  it  now  is  with  Judge 
Campbell's  Political  History,  was  any  such  attempt 
thought  desirable. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I-  PAOB 
MICHIGAN  is  EXPLORED,  AND   MISSIONS  AND  TRADING- 
POSTS   ESTABLISHED 

CHAPTER  II. 

DETROIT  is  FOUNDED,  AND  AT  LENGTH  SURRENDERED  TO 

16 
ENGLAND    

CHAPTER   III. 

PONTIAC'S  VAIN  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  HOMES  OF  HIS  PEO- 
PLE      

CHAPTER   IV. 
A  DECADE  OF  MILITARY  ABSOLUTISM 66 

CHAPTER   V. 
THE  NORTHWEST  CONQUERED  FOR  THE  AMERICAN  UNION      79 

CHAPTER   VI. 

GREAT  BRITAIN  RELUCTANTLY  SURRENDERS  THE  NORTH- 
WEST .     .     .     . 105 

CHAPTER   VII. 
THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  A  FREE  STATE  ARE  LAID  IN  THE 

120 
NORTHWEST 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

PAGE 

MICHIGAN  BECOMES  A  TERRITORY  AND  is  GIVEN  RULERS    140 

CHAPTER  IX. 

WAR,  AND  THE  CONQUEST  AND  RECONQUEST  or  MICHI- 
GAN     163 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  ACTIVE  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENT   .     189 

CHAPTER  XL 
THE  TERRITORY  ADVANCES  TO  THE  DIGNITY  OF  A  STATE    205 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  STATE  AND  ITS  ELEMENTS 232 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
MONEY  is  MADE  ABUNDANT  IN  THE  NEW  STATE  .    .    .    254 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  STATE  ENTERS  UPON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS .    .    279 

CHAPTER  XV. 
ECONOMY,  RECUPERATION,  AND  PROGRESS 294 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  STATE  PROVIDES  FOR  UNIVERSAL  EDUCATION  .    .    306 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
THE  WAR  IN  DEFENSE  OF  THE  UNION 330 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 
THE  NEW  STATE  AND  THE  UNION 344 


MICHIGAN : 

A  HISTORY  OF  GOVERNMENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

MICHIGAN   IS  EXPLORED,   AND  MISSIONS  AND 
TRADING   POSTS    ESTABLISHED. 

IT  was  between  the  great  lakes  that  the  west- 
ern currents  of  French  and  English  colonization, 
starting  from  distant  points  upon  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  along  the  Atlantic,  after  a  century  and 
a  half  of  unfriendly  rivalry,  with  occasional  bloody 
and  devastating  wars,  met  at  last  and  blended  in 
a  peaceful  and  prosperous  commonwealth. 

Europe  was  dazzled  by  the  discovery  of  a  new 
world,  and  every  maritime  nation  hastened  to 
share  with  Spain  the  fame  to  be  won  in  adventu- 
rous exploration.  But  in  colonization  Spain  was 
long  without  a  rival.  Attracted  by  the  amazing 
wealth  of  tropical  production,  but  far  more  by 
the  inexhaustible  mines  of  precious  metals  of 
which  fame  brought  such  wondrous  reports  from 
the  interior,  that  country  was  not  long  in  seizing 
l 


2  MICHIGAN. 

and  occupying  the  Antilles  and  the  mainland 
from  Mexico  to  Peru,  and  the  Spanish  crown 
could  boast  possessions  in  America  of  which  Rome 
would  have  been  proud  in  the  height  of  her  su- 
premacy. Portugal,  a  little  later,  had  obtained  a 
foothold  in  Brazil ;  but  it  was  some  time  before 
any  people  or  any  ruler  in  Northern  Europe  ap- 
peared to  take  in  the  full  significance  of  Ameri- 
can discovery,  or  seemed  to  appreciate  the  great 
fact  that  a  vast  and  fertile  continent,  whose  possi- 
bilities for  humanity  were  beyond  calculation,  wa~s 
now  offered  for  the  acceptance  of  European  civil- 
ization. For  more  than  a  century  after  the  dis- 
covery by  Columbus,  the  attention  of  the  people 
of  England  was  so  far  absorbed  by  the  polemical 
controversies  and  the  bitter  political  contests  at- 
tendant upon  a  change  in  the  state  religion,  that 
the  mysterious  continent  across  the  ocean  ex- 
cited only  occasional  and  transitory  interest.  And 
France,  which  then,  in  rivalry  with  England,  was 
preparing  to  contest  the  claim  of  Spain  to  the 
leadership  of  the  world,  contented  herself  for  a 
long  time  with  a  lion's  share  in  the  harvests 
which  hardy  fishermen  were  gathering  on  the 
banks,  of  Newfoundland,  and  with  voyages  of  ad- 
venture and  exploration  upon  the  bay  and  the 
river  St.  Lawrence,  through  which  it  was  hoped 
there  might  be  found  an  avenue  for  trade  with  the 
Indies.  Roberval  and  Jacques  Cartier  attempted 
a  colony  at  Cape  Roque  in  1542,  but  it  failed  to 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA.  3 

take  root ;  La  Roche  with  forty  transported  con- 
victs made  a  like  attempt  on  Sable  Island  in  1598, 
but  took  off  five  years  later  all  whom  death  had 
not  already  removed ;  and  De  Monts,  in  1604, 
made  a  settlement  on  an  island  near  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Croix,  which  the  next  year  he  aban- 
doned for  Port  Royal,  and  Port  Royal  in  its  turn 
was  abandoned  in  1607  when  the  fur  monopoly, 
which  had  been  granted  to  De  Monts,  was  taken 
away.  It  was  Samuel  de  Chain  plain  who  was  the 
father  of  New  France ;  and  by  him,  at  Quebec, 
the  first  permanent  settlement  was  made  the  year 
following  the  planting  of  the  English  colony  at 
Jamestown.  Other  points  were  soon  occupied,  of 
which  Montreal  was  the  most  important. 

The  primary  objects  of  French  adventure  in 
Canada  were  profitable  trade  with  the  savages 
and  their  conversion  to  the  true  faith  of  Christ. 
Every  company  of  adventurers  had  its  priests, 
and  the  eagerness  of  the  trader  for  gain  was  more 
than  equaled  by  the  self-sacrificing  zeal  of  the 
missionary  of  the  cross.  Champlain  himself  was 
a  sincere  and  devoted  son  of  the  Church  ;  and 
while  he  endeavored  to  foster  and  advance  the 
fur  trade,  he  gave  his  best  energies  to  establish- 
ing and  maintaining  missions  among  the  Indians, 
and  to  protecting  against  their  enemies  the  tribes 
which  submitted  to  his  guidance,  and  tacitly  ac- 
knowledged the  French  supremacy.  In  1615  he 
visited  the  shore  of  Lake  Huron,  where  for  the 


4  MICHIGAN. 

powerful  tribe  of  that  name  he  established  a  mis- 
sion of  the  Recollets,  intended  by  him  for  a  cen- 
tre of  French  influence,  and  of  hostility  to  the 
Iroquois  Confederacy,  which  he  had  early  encoun- 
tered in  battle  near  the  lake  afterwards  named 
for  him. 

The  history  of  New  France  from  this  time  to 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth-  century  is  a  history 
of  one  long  struggle  with  the  Dutch  and  English 
at  Albany  and  New  York  for  the  good  will  and 
trade  of  the  Indians,  in  which  the  Iroquois  in 
general  antagonized  the  French,  and  the  Hurons, 
with  the  Algonquin  tribes,  were  their  firm  friends 
and  supporters.  But  the  French  were  unable  to 
protect  their  allies  against  the  proud  and  fierce 
confederacy,  and  the  Hurons  were  driven  from 
their  ancient  home  and  took  up  their  abode  at 
Michilimackinac,  where  they  were  joined  by  the 
Ottawas.  But  at  Michilimackinac  they  were 
again  assailed  by  their  old  enemies,  and  fled  in 
terror  before  them  to  the  country  beyond  Lake 
Superior,  only  to  come  there  into  conflict  with 
the  Illinois,  who  drove  them  on  to  the  Mississippi. 
But  there  they  encountered  the  Sioux,  an  enemy 
not  less  fierce  or  formidable  than  the  Iroquois, 
and  finding  neither  peace  nor  safety  elsewhere, 
they  returned  to  the  Straits  of  Michilimackinac, 
and  there,  in  1671,  Father  Jacques  Marquette 
founded  a  mission  for  them. 

The  Jesuits  took  early  possession  of  the  mis- 


THE  POLICY  OF  THE  JESUITS.  5 

sions  in  New  France,  and  members  of  that  order 
devoted  themselves  to  the  conversion  of  the  In- 
dians with  a  zeal  that  spared  no  endeavor  and 
no  artifice,  shrank  from  no  privation,  quailed  be- 
fore no  danger,  and  was  fully  in  accord  with  the 
religious  spirit  of  the  day,  which  could  persecute 
to  the  death,  or  submit  to  martyrdom  at  the  hands 
of  others,  with  undoubting  confidence  in  either 
case  that  Heaven  approved  the  cruelty  or  the  sac- 
rifice. But  nothing  in  the  policy  of  the  order 
favored  colonization  from  Europe  ;  the  fathers  had 
come  into  the  wilderness  as  apostles  to  the  In- 
dians, and  it  was  no  part  of  their  mission  to  peo- 
ple America  from  France.  On  the  contrary,  their 
mission  was  to  bring  the  religion  of  the  cross  to 
the  people  by  whom  America  was  already  pos- 
sessed. New  colonies  must  bring  with  them  the 
vices  of  civilized  life  ;  and  the  savage  nature 
would  be  quite  certain  to  add  these  to  such  as  al- 
ready belonged  to  it.  A  French  settlement  must, 
therefore,  to  some  extent  be  inimical  to  the  suc- 
cess of  a  mission  ;  and  in  so  far  as  the  colonists 
failed  to  observe  the  sacred  precepts  of  the  relig- 
ion they  professed,  their  proximity  would  tend  to 
bring  religion  into  contempt  in  savage  eyes,  and 
greatly  to  increase  the  labors  and  perplexities  of 
religious  teachers. 

But  the  policy  of  the  fur  traders  was  scarcely 
less  unfriendly  to  colonization  than  was  that  of 
the  Jesuits.  Monopolies  in  the  fur  trade  were 


6  MICHIGAN. 

granted  from  the  very  first,  and  though  condi- 
tions were  attached  to  the  grants  which  required 
the  settlement  of  colonists  within  territory  indi- 
cated, it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  attention 
would  be  given  to  the  conditions  any  farther  than 
it  should  be  compelled.  The  grants  were  made 
and  received  for  the  profit  of  the  grantees,  and  as 
their  gains  were  to  be  gathered  in  the  wilder- 
ness, their  interest  was  to  preserve  the  forests,  not 
to  destroy  them.  The  conditions  for  colonization 
never  had  more  than  nominal  fulfillment  until  set- 
tlement began  in  earnest  upon  the  rock  of  Que- 
bec. Even  then  the  earnestness  was  but  partial, 
for  most  of  those  who  were  brought  over  came 
for  hire,  and  not  in  pursuance  of  any  deliberate 
choice  to  exchange  their  native  country  for  a  home 
in  the  new  world.  Finding  everything  in  New 
France  given  over  to  monopoly,  these  men  either 
became  irregular  traders,  or  took  up  a  roving  and 
lawless  life  among  the  Indians,  constituting  that 
peculiar  class  of  men  known  as  coureurs  de  bois, 
whose  ambition  was  fully  satisfied  if  by  gun  and 
trap  they  were  able  to  provide  for  the  limited 
wants  of  a  life  of  careless  indolence.  In  1637, 
when  Richelieu  was  at  the  head  of  affairs,  an 
effort  was  made  in  the  direction  of  colonization 
which  seemed  to  promise  great  results.  Previous 
grants  of  monopoly  were  annulled,  and  a  company 
of  a  hundred  associates  was  formed,  with  Riche- 
lieu at  its  head,  to  which  was  granted  a  perma- 


SCHEMES  FOR   COLONIZATION.  7 

nent  monopoly  of  the  trade  in  furs,  skins,  and 
leather,  and  a  monopoly  for  fifteen  years  of  the 
whole  colonial  trade,  by  land  and  sea,  with  the 
exception  of  the  cod  and  whale  fisheries,  which 
were  left  free.  The  scope  of  the  grant  embraced 
the  whole  of  New  France,  from  Florida  to  the 
Arctic  circle,  and  on  its  part  the  company  under- 
took to  convey  to  New  France  within  the  next 
year  two  or  three  hundred  men  of  various  trades, 
and  before  the  year  1643  to  increase  the  number 
to  four  thousand,  lodging  and  supporting  them 
for  three  years,  and  then  giving  them  for  their 
maintenance  lands  ready  for  cultivation.  In  an- 
other age  and  under  other  circumstances  this  un- 
dertaking might  have  borne  fruit;  but  bigotry 
was  then  dominant  and  unrelenting  in  France, 
and  it  would  neither  tolerate  a  heretic  at  home, 
nor  permit  him  to  become  the  means  of  extend- 
ing the  glory  and  power  of  his  native  land  in  the 
distant  wilderness.  Every  settler  was,  therefore, 
required  to  be  a  Catholic,  and  for  every  settle- 
ment at  least  three  ecclesiastics  must  be  provided. 
The  scheme  was  doomed  by  its  very  conditions, 
for  the  French  nature  is  little  disposed  to  expa- 
triation, and  the  class  of  the  people  to  whom  per- 
secution had  made  emigration  a  temptation  was 
vigorously  excluded  from  the  offer  the  associates 
were  permitted  to  make.  The  company  was  not 
prosperous,  and  in  1663  it  was  dissolved. 

But  the  dissolution  of   this   company  did  not 


8  MICHIGAN. 

result  in  freedom  to  trade.  The  next  year  the 
French  West  India  Company  was  formed,  to  which 
a  monopoly  still  more  extensive  was  granted ;  but 
this  also  was  not  prosperous,  and  in  1674  its  priv- 
ileges, with  some  reservations,  were  surrendered. 
Other  grants  of  monopoly  followed  in  succession, 
the  last  expiring  in  1731;  and  while  they  had 
the  effect  to  prevent  immigration  and  settlement, 
they  also  tended  to  paralyze  trade  of  every  sort,  to 
check  enterprise,  and  to  incline  the  lower  classes 
to  prefer  a  life  of  slothful  ease  and  independence 
in  the  woods  to  one  of  unprofitable  service  for  the 
monopolists. 

Had  trade  been  free  there  would  still  have  been 
serious  impediments  to  settlement  in  New  France. 
Among  the  chief  of  these  was  the  complicated 
despotism  of  the  government.  No  English  colony 
had  anything  similar,  and  none  would  have  toler- 
ated it.  First  of  its  officers  was  the  governor- 
general,  usually  a  man  of  noble  birth,  and  nomi- 
nally the  king's  immediate  representative.  Then 
there  was  the  intendant,  who  was  the  king's  spy 
upon  the  governor-general,  possessed  of  large  in- 
dependent judicial  powers,  and  expected  to  re- 
port fully  and  frequently,  as  well  as  secretly,  to 
the  minister.  He  judged  all  the  king's  causes, 
and  might  create  inferior  courts.  Commonly, 
the  governor-general  and  the  intendant  were  at 
loggerheads,  and  their  correspondence  with  the 
minister  was  burdened  with  mutual  complaints. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  GOVERNMENT.  9 

There  was  also  a  Superior  Council,  composed  of  the 
governor-general,  the  intendant,  and  the  bishop, 
which  constituted  the  legislative  authority.  The 
Council  had  an  attorney -general,  a  secretary, 
and  attendant  officers,  but  many  times  the  dis- 
putes of  the  governor  and  the  intendant  in  regard 
to  their  respective  powers  and  privileges  made  the 
meetings  a  scene  of  disorder,  or  prevented  their 
being  held.  The  Jesuits  were  also  a  power  in 
the  colony,  which,  in  the  pursuit  of  its  policy, 
bent  its  will  to  no  other  except  when  compelled 
by  a  necessity  which  was  known  to  be  irresistible. 
And  the  king  of  France  wanted  no  self-govern- 
ment in  America.  When  Frontenac  in  1672  as- 
sembled the  people  of  Quebec,  administered  the 
oath  of  allegiance,  prescribed  for  them  a  form  of 
municipal  government,  and  reported  the  facts  to 
the  king,  the  minister,  Colbert,  responded :  "  Your 
assembling  the  inhabitants  to  take  the  oath  of 
fidelity,  and  your  division  of  them  into  three  es- 
tates, may  have  had  a  good  effect  for  the  moment ; 
but  it  is  well  for  you  to  observe  that  you  are 
always  to  follow,  in  the  government  of  Canada, 
the  forms  in  use  here ;  and  since  our  kings  have 
long  regarded  it  as  good  for  their  service  not  to 
convoke  the  states  of  the  kingdom,  in  order,  per- 
haps, to  abolish  insensibly  this  ancient  usage,  you 
on  your  part  should  very  rarely,  or,  to  speak  more 
correctly,  never  give  a  corporate  form  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Canada.  You  should  even,  as  the 


10  MICHIGAN. 

colony  strengthens,  suppress  gradually  the  office  of 
the  syndic  who  presents  petitions  in  the  name 
of  the  inhabitants ;  for  it  is  well  that  each  should 
speak  for  himself  and  none  for  all."1  It  was  not 
by  such  a  policy  that  a  power  was  to  be  created 
in  New  France  which  could  compete  successfully 
in  the  long  race  for  wealth  and  power  with 
the  English  colonies.  The  matchless  skill  and 
prowess  of  Frontenac  for  a  time  made  New  F ranee 
preeminent  in  Indian  councils,  and  humbled  and 
half  annihilated  the  Iroquois  Confederacy ;  but 
Frontenac  in  1698  rested  from  his  long  struggles 
with  Iroquois  and  with  Jesuit,  and  he  had  no  suc- 
cessor who  was  equal  to  his  responsibilities,  or 
worthy  to  wear  his  honors. 

Before  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  shores  of  the  great  lakes  had  been  well  ex- 
plored by  the  fur  traders  and  the  priests,  and  im- 
portant stations  had  been  established,  which  were 
at  once  missions  and  trading  posts.  So  early  as 
1641  the  Jesuit  fathers  Raymbault  and  Jogues 
had  visited  the  Sault  St.  Marie  and  had  estab- 
lished a  mission  there  for  the  Chippewas,  but  the 
sickness  and  death  of  Raymbault  caused  its  early 
abandonment.  The  position  was  too  important  to 
permit  of  its  being  permanently  given  up,  and 
Father  Marquette  was  sent  there  in  the  spring  of 
1668,  and  renewing  the  mission,  he  founded  there 
the  first  permanent  settlement  in  Michigan.  This 

1  Parkman's  Frontenac,  p.  20. 


FATHER  MARQUETTE.  11 

illustrious  man  had  come  to  Canada  in  1666,  in 
the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  to  devote  his 
life  to  mission  work,  and  had  received  with  en- 
thusiasm the  order  to  repair  to  the  upper  lakes. 
In  the  following  year  he  was  joined  at  the  Sault 
by  Father  Dablon,  to  whom  he  left  the  work  at 
that  place,  while  he  repaired  to  a  new  field  of 
labor  with  the  Hurons,  then  west  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior. When  in  1670  the  Hurons  fled  before  their 
new  enemies  the  Sioux,  Father  Marquette  cast  his 
lot  with  them,  and  in  the  following  year  gathered 
them  about  him  at  the  Straits  of  Michilimackinac. 
Michilimackinac,  he  says,  "  is  the  key,  and,  as  it 
were,  the  gate,  for  all  the  tribes  from  the  south, 
as  the  Sault  is  for  those  of  the  north,  there  being 
in  this  section  of  the  country  only  these  two  pas- 
sages by  water;  for  a  great  number  of  nations 
have  to  go  by  one  or  other  of  these  channels 
in  order  to  reach  the  French  settlements.  This 
presents  a  peculiarly  favorable  opportunity,  both 
for  instructing  those  who  pass  here,  and  also  for 
obtaining  easy  access  and  conveyance  to  their 
places  of  abode."  He  adds  further  that  the  place 
is  " '  the  home  of  the  fishes.'  Elsewhere,  although 
they  exist  in  large  numbers,  it  is  not  properly 
their  '  home,'  which  is  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Michilimackinac.  It  is  this  attraction  which  has 
heretofore  drawn  to  a  point  so  advantageous  the 
greater  part  of  the  savages  in  this  country,  driven 
away  by  fear  of  the  Iroquois/' 


12  MICHIGAN. 

The  mission  now  established  by  Father  Mar- 
quette  was  located  on  the  north  side  of  the  Straits, 
and  was  named  by  him  for  St.  Ignatius.  The 
Hurons  and  Ottawas,  as  well  as  fragments  of  other 
tribes,  had  villages  in  the  vicinity  ;  and  in  admin- 
istering to  their  wants  and  baptizing  their  children 
Father  Marquette  and  his  associate,  Nouvel,  found, 
as  he  informs  us,  "  consolation  which  God  sends 
us,  which  makes  us  esteem  our  life  more  happy  as 
it  is  more  wretched." 

But  attractive  as  were  to  him  the  place  and-the 
duty,  Father  Marquette  was  fired  with  zeal  for 
more  dangerous  and  venturesome  missions,  and 
was  ready,  as  he  writes  Father  Dablon,  to  leave 
his  charge  in  the  hands  of  another  missionary,  in 
order  to  seek  new  nations  towards  the  South  Sea, 
and  to  become  their  teacher.  Accordingly,  when 
Joliet  was  sent  out  to  explore  the  Mississippi, 
Marquette  had  orders  to  accompany  him,  and  he 
expresses  himself  as  "  enraptured  at  this  good 
news,"  which  put  him  under  the  "•  happy  neces- 
sity "  of  exposing  his  life  for  the  salvation  of  the 
nations  on  the  Mississippi,  and  particularly  for 
the  Illinois,  who  had  entreated  him  when  on  Lake 
Superior  "to  carry  the  word  of  God  to  their 
country." 

The  parties  started  on  their  mission  of  explora- 
tion May  17,  1673,  and  proceeding  by  way  of 
Green  Bay,  and  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  rivers,  in 
a  month  had  reached  the  Mississippi,  which  they 


DEATH  OF  MARQUETTE.  13 

followed  as  far  down  as  the  Arkansas.  Returning 
they  ascended  the  Illinois,  crossed  to  Lake  Michi- 
gan at  the  site  of  what  is  now  Chicago,  and  then 
coasted  the  western  shore  of  that  lake  to  Green 
Bay,  which  they  reached  in  September.  Here 
they  separated,  and  Joliet  returned  to  Quebec. 
In  the  fall  of  the  following  year  Marquette  started 
to  fulfill  his  desire  to  establish  a  mission  among 
the  Illinois,  but  his  health  failed  him,  and  he 
spent  the  winter  upon  the  Chicago  River.  In  the 
spring  he  proceeded  to  his  destination  and  began 
his  labors,  but  continuing  to  grow  feeble  in  health, 
and  fearing  that  his  end  was  approaching,  he  sor- 
rowfully turned  his  face  again  to  the  north,  in  the 
hope  that  his  strength  might  be  sufficient  to 
enable  him  once  more  to  reach  the  mission  he  had 
founded  at  Michilimackinac,  and  to  worship  in  the 
midst  of  his  converts  in  the  chapel  of  St.  Igna- 
tius. But  the  will  of  Providence  was  otherwise. 
Coasting  along  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, he  landed  for  brief  rest  and  for  worship  near 
the  mouth  of  the  river  which  has  since  been 
named  for  him,  and  there,  after  a  few  hours'  delay 
and  almost  without  warning,  he  passed  peacefully 
and  quietly  to  his  eternal  rest.  He  was  buried  on 
the  spot  by  his  sorrowfu?  companions,  but  two 
years  later  a  party  of  his  Indian  con  veils  removed 
the  body  to  the  place  of  repose  he  would  have 
chosen  for  himself,  beneath  the  chapel  which 
overlooked  the  Straits  of  Michilimackinac. 


14  MICHIGAN. 

From  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  mission 
on  the  Straits,  that  place  became  a  point  of  resort 
for  the  fur  traders  of  Quebec  and  Montreal,  and 
a  point  of  competition  with  the  English  located 
on  the  shores  of  Hudson  Bay,  and  the  merchants 
at  Albany.  It  is  not  known  when  Michilimacki- 
nac  became  a  military  post ;  we  have  incidental 
mention  of  it  by  travelers  from  time  to  time ;  La 
Salle,  in  the  Griffon,  the  first  vessel  to  plough  the 
waters  above  Niagara,  passed  it  in  1679,  and  in 
1688  Baron  La  Hontan  visited  and  described-it. 
La  Motte  Cadillac  was  here  in  command  of  the 
post  in  1695,  and  he  says  of  it  that  "  this  village 
is  one  of  the  largest  in  all  "Canada."  The  gar- 
rison consisted  of  about  two  hundred  men,  and 
savages  to  the  number  of  six  or  seven  thousand 
souls  lived  in  the  vicinity,  by  whom  sufficient 
corn  was  produced  for  both  the  French  and  them- 
selves. But  the  capture  of  the  Hudson  Bay  sta- 
tions by  the  French  in  1697,  and  the  founding 
of  Detroit  in  1701,  deprived  Michilimackinac  of 
much  of  its  importance,  and  in  1706  the  Jesuits 
who  were  stationed  there,  discouraged  by  the  op- 
position at  Detroit,  burned  down  their  chapel  and 
their  school  building,  and  took  up  their  departure 
for  Quebec.  A  few  traders  and  many  Indians 
continued  to  reside  there,  and  Father  Marest  soon 
came  to  care  for  their  spiritual  needs,  and  re- 
mained there  until  the  post  was  reestablished,  but 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Straits,  in  1714. 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS.  15 

The  importance  of  the  Sault  St.  Marie  was 
greatly  diminished  by  the  mission  of  Michilimack- 
inac,  but  the  Chippewas,  a  fierce  and  warlike  peo- 
ple, had  a  village  there,  and  the  French  govern- 
ment deemed  it  the  suitable  point  for  convening 
a  Congress  of  Nations  in  the  summer  of  1671. 
Great  numbers  of  Indians  came,  from  the  St.  Law- 
rence on  the  one  side  to  the  Mississippi  on  the 
other,  and  even,  it  is  said,  from  so  far  down  as  the 
Red  River,  to  form  or  to  strengthen  a  friendship 
with  the  French.  A  post  was  planted  marked  with 
the  lilies  of  France,  and  the  assembled  nations 
were  assured  that  they  were  now  under  French 
protection. 

These  were  the  settlements  which  preceded 
Detroit.  A  fort  was  also  built  by  La  Salle  at 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph,  on  Lake  Michigan, 
in  1679,  but  there  was  no  European  settlement 
about  it,  and  its  importance  as  compared  with 
Michilimackinac  was  small.  A  fort  at  the  out- 
let of  Lake  Huron  was  built  by  Du  Lhut  in  1686, 
and  named  by  him  St.  Joseph.  It  was  constructed 
to  command  the  passage  from  Lake  Erie  to  the 
upper  lakes,  and  its  value  for  this  purpose  was 
evident,  but  with  no  settlement  about  it  its  main- 
tenance would  have  been  troublesome  and  expen- 
sive, and  it  was  abandoned  two  years  after  its 
construction.  The  founding  of  Detroit  soon  ren- 
dered any  other  post  on  the  passage  of  little  or  no 
importance. 


16  MICHIGAN. 


CHAPTER   II. 

DETROIT    IS    FOUNDED,    AND    AT    LENGTH     SUR- 
RENDERED  TO  ENGLAND. 

THE  pathway  for  Indian  traffic  and  missionary 
enterprise  from  Quebec  and  Montreal  was  by  WHY 
of  the  Ottawa  and  French  rivers  to  the  Georgian 
Bay,  and  thence  to  Michilimackinac,  St.  Marie, 
and  other  stations.  The  existence  of  the  connect- 
ing strait  between  lakes  Huron  and  Erie  must 
have  been  known  to  the  French  at  an  early  day, 
but  it  is  not  certain  that  any  one  of  that  nation 
pMSsed  through  it  prior  to  the  expedition  made 
by  Joliet,  under  the  command  of  the  intendant 
Talon,  to  discover  and  explore  the  copper  mines 
of  Lake  Superior,  of  which  rumors  were  preva- 
lent. Indeed,  that  Joliet  passed  through  this 
strait  is  only  matter  of  plausible  conjecture,  for 
he  left  no  record  of  this  part  of  his  journey  ;  but 
on  his  return  from  his  unsuccessful  search  for 
mineral  wealth  in  1669,  he  encountered,  near  the 
head  of  Lake  Ontario,  La  Salle  and  the  Sulpitian 
fathers  Dollier  and  Galine'e,  who  had  started  on 
their  journey  of  exploration  for  a  passage  to  the 
South  Sea,  and  the  information  he  imparted  to 


LA   SALLE'S  PARTY  DIVIDES.  17 

them  respecting  the  upper  lake  country  and  the 
spiritual  wants  of  the  Indians  of  that  region  so 
fired  the  zeal  of  the  worthy  fathers  that,  in  spite 
of  the  remonstrances  of  La  Salle,  they  determined 
to  part  with  him  and  take  their  course  to  the  up- 
per lakes  by  way  of  Lake  Erie.  The  separation 
took  place  at  the  end  of  September,  1669,  but 
they  did  not  cross  Lake  Ontario  until  the  follow- 
ing spring,  and  they  arrived  at  the  Sault  St. 
Marie  on  May  25,  1670,  having  landed  on  or  near 
the  site  of  Detroit  on  the  way  up,  and  seized  and 
destroyed  with  iconoclastic  fury  and  indignation 
a  stone  idol  which  they  found  there,  and  whose 
remains  they  threw  into  the  middle  of  the  river, 
that  it  "might  never  be  heard  of  again."  At  the 
Sault  they  were  received  with  frigid  reserve  by 
the  Jesuits,  who  plainly  gave  them  to  understand 
they  were  not  wanted  there,  and  they  returned  in 
discouragement  by  way  of  the  Ottawa.  A  crude 
map  made  by  Galine'e  and  a  minute  journal  of 
their  travels  were  the  valuable  results  of  the  ex- 
pedition, and  the  importance  of  Detroit  was  from 
this  time  known  to  the  colonial  authorities.  It 
seems  probable,  also,  that  at  times  it  was  tempo- 
rarily occupied  as  a  military  post.  But  it  was 
soon  to  receive  more  attention,  and  become  a  post 
of  first  importance,  for  Antoine  de  la  Motte  Ca- 
dillac, a  man  of  mark  and  ability,  now  appears 
upon  the  scene. 

We  first  hear  of  Cadillac  in  America  in  the 
2 


18  MICHIGAN. 

year  1687,  when  he  was  married  at  Quebec,  be- 
ing then  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age.  Two 
years  afterwards  he  went  to  France,  and  returned 
with  a  large  grant  of  lands,  with  manorial  rights, 
on  the  shores  of  Maine.  He  was  subsequently 
employed  in  positions  of  importance  in  the  naval 
and  military  service  of  the  king,  and  was  so  highly 
esteemed  for  his  judgment  and  his  knowledge  of 
colonial  affairs  that,  in  1692,  at  the  request  of 
Count  Pontchartrain,  he  was  sent  to  France  by 
the  govern  or -general,  to  give  advice  respecting 
the  military  affairs  of  the  province  in  its  deal- 
ings with  New  York  and  New  England.  In  the 
fall  of  1694  he  was  appointed  to  the  command 
of  Michilimackinac,  where  he  remained  for  five 
years.  Surveying  the  field  of  French  trade  and 
influence  from  that  remote  post,  Cadillac  had  be- 
come convinced  that  Detroit,  rather  than  any  of 
the  upper  stations,  was  the  point  from  which  the 
fur  trade  could  best  be  controlled,  and  where  the 
friendly  Indians  could  most  conveniently  be  con- 
centrated for  the  mutual  protection  of  themselves 
and  their  French  allies.  Impressed  with  this  view, 
he  again  went  to  France  in  1700,  determined,  if 
possible,  to  obtain  the  necessary  authority  as  well 
as  the  necessary  assistance  for  the  establishment 
of  a  settlement  at  Detroit.  In  a  long  interview 
with  Count  Pontchartrain  he  presented  veiy  fully 
the  advantages  of  Detroit,  its  supreme  importance 
as  a  military  and  trading  post,  the  excellence  of 


LA  MOTTE  CADILLAC.  19 

the  soil  about  it,  and  the  desirability  of  planting 
in  that  country  an  agricultural  colony.  The  sa- 
gacious minister  was  so  impressed  with  his  ear- 
nestness, and  with  the  reasons  assigned,  that  the 
desired  permission  was  cordially  given,  and  Cadil- 
lac returned  to  Canada  early  in  1701,  bearing  a 
grant  from  the  king  of  a  tract  of  land  fifteen  ar- 
pents  square,  "  wherever  on  the  Detroit  the  new 
fort  should  be  established,"  and  with  assurance 
of  military  and  other  assistance.  Making  brief 
pause  at  Quebec  he  pushed  on  to  Montreal,  where 
he  completed  his  arrangements  for  the  new  under- 
taking. Fifty  soldiers  and  fifty  Canadian  traders 
and  artisans  were  secured  by  him,  and  with  these 
in  canoes,  well  supplied  with  the  essentials  to  a 
new  settlement  in  the  woods,  he  started  from  La 
Chine  at  the  beginning  of  June.  The  younger 
Tonty  was  commander  of  the  military  force,  a 
Recollet  priest  accompanied  the  party  as  chap- 
lain, and  a  Jesuit  as  missionary  t<v  the  Indians. 
The  old  route  by  the  Ottawa  and  Lake  Huron 
was  followed,  and  the  boats  were  drawn  up  on  the 
shore  at  the  point  of  destination,  on  July  24th.  A 
stockade  fort  was  immediately  constructed  which, 
in  honor  of  the  minister,  was  named  Fort  Pont- 
chartrain,  and  log  houses  thatched  with  grass  soon 
went  up,  in  which  the  settlers  found  shelter  and 
a  home. 

At  this  time  the  solitude  of  the  vast  forests  of 
Michigan  was  unbroken  by  the  sound  of  the  wood- 


20  MICHIGAN. 

man's  axe.  The  great  oaks,  hickories,  walnuts, 
and  maples  towered  secure  in  majestic  grandeur, 
and  in  all  the  region  of  the  pine  there  was  audi- 
ble as  yet  neither  promise  nor  prophecy  of  the  rich 
harvest  which  the  lumberman  of  another  day  was 
to  reap.  In  the  openings  of  Southern  Michigan, 
which  Nature  had  decked  with  more  than  royal 
adornments,  the  elk  and  the  deer  found  abundant 
pasturage,  and  the  bear  fed  on  mast  and  tracked 
the  honey  bee  to  his  secret  store.  The  beaver 
was  still  building  dams  in  the  forest  watercourses, 
and  the  buffalo  fed  on  the  prairies  and  frequented 
the  abundant  salt  licks.  Choice  fish  were  abun- 
dant, but  undisturbed,  in  the  lakes  and  streams  of 
the  interior.  The  iron  of  Lake  Superior  was  still 
unknown,  and  the  wealth  of  its  copper  was  but 
a  rumor,  of  which  the  copper  ornaments  some- 
times displayed  by  the  Indian  women  furnished 
the  only  confirmation.  The  Indian  population  of 
the  southern  peninsula  of  Michigan  was  not  great; 
the  terror  of  the  Iroquois  had  made  their  enemies 
jieek  safety  in  the  distance.  Around  the  trading 
posts  and  missions,  or  within  easy  reach,  they 
had  gathered,  and  many  of  them  under  Jesuit 
teaching  had  become  nominally  Christian.  But 
their  conversion  had  scarcely  made  them  less  sav- 
age and  brutal  than  before ;  it  had  not  changed 
their  nature,  and  they  could  torture  the  prisoners 
taken  in  battle  or  by  treachery,  and  on  great  oc- 
casions devour  their  flesh  as  a  stimulant  to  cour- 


EDUCATION   OF  THE  INDIANS.  21 

age,  with  the  same  delight  as  ever.  The  Ottawas, 
said  Cadillac  a  little  later,  "  would  be  baptized 
a  hundred  times  a  day  for  a  hundred  drinks  of 
brandy."  "  The  only  good  that  the  missionaries 
do  consists  in  the  baptism  of  children,  who  die 
after  having  received  it,  and  perchance  adminis- 
tering the  same  rite  to  some  old  man  at  the  hour 
of  death."  But  Cadillac  did  not  like  the  Jesuits, 
and  he  underrated  the  value  of  their  services.  It 
was  a  great  and  lasting  benefit  to  the  Indians, 
that  under  the  influence  of  the  priests  they  were 
taught  foresight,  and  in  the  enlarged  cultivation 
of  the  soil  were  induced  to  provide  against  the 
contingencies  of  bad  seasons  and  occasional  fail- 
ures of  the  chase,  and  thus  to  forestall  and  pre- 
vent the  famines  that  sometimes  had  visited  them 
with  destructive  severity.  Their  agriculture  at 
the  best  was  crude  and  limited,  but  it  became  at 
length  adequate  to  their  wants,  and  they  Avere  the 
farmers  and  the  gardeners  for  the  soldiers  and 
traders. 

Of  the  traders  with  the  Indians  at  this  early 
period  some  were  regular,  and  traded  under  the 
existing  grant  of  monopoly,  or  by  special  permits. 
More,  however,  were  irregular.  In  the  woods 
about  every  station  were  many  coureurs  de  bois, 
or  bushrangers,  who  carried  on  a  lawless  traffic  in 
fu:-s  and  peltry  with  the  Indians,  and  lived  wiih 
them  much  of  the  time  in  their  wigwams.  Their 
trade,  though  illegal,  was  generally  connived  at 


22  MICHIGAN. 

by  all  but  the  regular  traders,  whose  profits  it 
would  diminish,  and  even  these  sometimes  found 
the  bushrangers  valuable  agents  in  bringing  to 
their  places  of  business  the  traffic  that  otherwise 
might  have  been  secured  by  the  English.  To  the 
colony  at  large  these  people  were  an  undoubted 
advantage,  for  they  gave  valuable  assistance  in 
maintaining  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians, 
and  if  danger  threatened  they  had  early  knowl- 
edge of  it  and  could  give  warning  in  season.  But 
they  lived  like  savages  and  loved  the  savage  life. 
At  the  same  time  they  were  never  weaned  from 
their  native  attachments,  but  were  Frenchmen  in 
spirit  even  when  ~they  had  abandoned  the  manners 
and  methods  of  civilization. 

Dominion  over  the  territory  lying  between  the 
great  lakes  was  claimed  by  both  Canada  and  New 
York,  on  similar  grounds  of  prior  discovery  and 
possession.  But  most  of  the  claims  on  both  sides, 
so  far  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  had  little  founda- 
tion in  fact.  A  sharp  correspondence  had  taken 
place  on  the  subject  between  Governor  Dongan 
on  the  one  side  and  De  la  Barre  on  the  other, 
and  this  was  renewed  when  De  la  Barre  had 
been  succeeded  by  Denonville.  But  the  corre- 
spondence had  no  result;  each  party  continued  its 
efforts  to  obtain  the  trade  of  the  Lake  region, 
while  jealously  watching  the  other,  and  stirring  up 
strife  against  their  rivals  as  opportunity  offered. 
In  all  intercourse  with  the  Indians  the  French 


THE  FRENCH  AND    THE  INDIANS.  23 

had  one  very  great  advantage  over  their  rivals : 
they  affiliated  with  them  more  readily;  they  met 
them  more  freely  and  easily  on  terms  of  fellow- 
ship; their  manners  were  less  austere  and  abrupt; 
and  they  took  more  pains  by  friendly  attentions 
and  courtesies  to  conciliate  favor.  In  many  cases, 
too,  their  young  men  formed  lasting  attachments 
and  family  relations  with  the  forest  maidens,  and 
a  thousand  ties  were  woven  between  the  Indians 
and  the  French,  which  in  the  intercourse  of  the 
former  with  the  English  were  comparatively  un- 
known. On  the  other  hand,  the  English  goods 
were  always  cheaper,  and  the  Indians  had  shrewd- 
ness enough  to  discover  the  fact,  and  to  avail 
themselves  of  it  whenever  they  were  permitted 
and  found  it  practicable  and  safe  to  do  so.  But 
after  the  founding  of  Detroit  the  French  generally 
monopolized  their  trade.  Cadillac  assigned  to 
the  minister  many  reasons  for  this.  "  One  is  that 
each  savage,  one  with  another,  kills  per  year  only 
fifty  or  sixty  beavers,  and  as  he  is  neighbor  to  the 
Frenchman,  frequently  borrows  of  him,  paying  in 
proportion  to  his  returns  by  the  chase ;  with  the 
little  that  remains  to  him  he  is  compelled  to 
make  purchases  for  his  family.  Thus  he  finds 
himself  unable  to  go  to  the  English,  because  his 
remaining  goods  are  not  worth  the  trouble  of  car- 
rying so  far;  not  being  sufficient  to  pay  him  for 
the  expense  of  his  journey.  Another  reason  is 
that  in  frequenting  the  French  he  receives  many 


24  MICHIGAN. 

caresses ;  they  are  too  cunning  to  allow  his  furs 
to  escape,  especially  when  they  succeed  in  making 
him  eat  and  drink  with  them.  The  will  to  go  to 
the  English  still  exists  among  the  savages,  but 
they  are  skillfully  reduced  to  the  impossibility  of 
its  execution."1  Thus  early  in  America  do  we  en- 
counter the  slavery  of  a  mortgaged  future.  But 
the  French  had  not  relied  exclusively  on  their  in- 
fluence with  the  Indians  for  the  protection  of  their 
trade,  but  had  on  some  occasions  made  use  of 
force.  Robert  Livingston  thought  Detroit  should 
be  occupied  by  the  English,  and  in  1699,  after 
the  treaty  of  Ryswick,  a  plan  was  submitted  by 
him  to  Lord  Bellamont  for  establishing  a  mili- 
tary post  at  that  point,  and  settling  there  both 
whites  and  Iroquois  Indians  ;  but  the  plan  was 
not  promptly  acted  upon,  and  two  years  thereafter 
Cadillac  was  in  possession.  More  fortunate  than 
Livingston,  he  had  succeeded  in  convincing  his 
government  that  Detroit  "  is  a  door  by  which  one 
can  go  in  and  out  to  trade  with  all  our  allies  ;"2 
and  the  king  had  made  him  the  doorkeeper. 

Cadillac  was  not  less  impressed  with  the  beauty 
of  Detroit  and  its  desirability  as  a  home  than 
with  its  commercial  and  strategic  importance,  and 
he  grows  eloquent  as  he  desciibes  the  passage 
through  which  flows  with  moderate  current  "  the 
living  and  crystal  waters "  of  the  upper  lakes, 

1  Sheldon's  Early  Hist,  of  Michigan,  87,  88. 

2  Ibid.  116. 


THE  PRAISES   OF  DETROIT.  25 

"  which  are  so  many  seas  of  sweet  water  "  rolling 
on  to  mingle  with  the  distant  ocean.  The  borders 
of  the  strait,  he  says,  are  vast  prairies,  and  "  the 
freshness  of  the  beautiful  waters  keeps  the  banks 
always  green."  Natural  orchards  "  soften  and 
bend  their  branches  under  the  weight  and  quan- 
tity of  their  fruit  towards  the  mother  earth  which 
has  produced  them,"  and  "  the  ambitious  vine, 
which  has  never  wept  under  the  pruning-knife, 
builds  a  thick  roof  with  its  large  leaves  and  heavy 
clusters,  weighing  down  the  top  of  the  tree  which, 
receives  it,  and  often  stifling  it  with  its  embrace." 
The  woods  are  full  of  game ;  the  forest  trees  are 
straight  as  arrows,  and  of  prodigious  size  ;  above 
them  the  courageous  eagle  soars  looking  fixedly  at 
the  sun  ;  the  swans  in  the  river  are  so  numerous 
that  one  might  take  for  lilies  the  reeds  in  which 
they  crowd  together,  and  the  fish  are  none  the 
less  delicious  for  their  great  abundance.  And  he 
adds,  with  covert  allusion  to  his  enemies,  the 
Jesuits,  that  "  none  but  the  enemies  of  truth 
could  be  enemies  to  this  establishment,  so  neces- 
sary to  the  increase  of  the  glory  of  the  king,  to 
the  spread  of  religion,  and  to  the  destruction  of  the 
throne  of  Satan." 

The  glowing  description  of  the  adventurous 
founder  of  Detroit  was  written  with  the  pen  of 
truth,  and  expressed  but  inadequately  the  senti- 
ments of  the  writer  respecting  the  beauty  and 
desirableness  of  his  new  location.  And  here  he 


26  MICHIGAN. 

proposed  to  found  the  mart  of  commerce  for  all 
tlie  northwest:  a  town  which  should  be  the  nu- 
cleus of  an  agricultural  colony.  But  Detroit  was 
born  in  chains,  and  weighed  down  with  mana- 
cles in  all  its  struggling  infancy.  The  old  system 
of  repression  under  which  Canada  existed  and 
languished  from  the  first  was  vigorously  applied 
to  it.  Commerce  must  not  for  a  moment  be  free  ; 
individual  energy  and  enterprise  must  be  kept  in 
strict  restraint,  or  if  it  escaped  restraint  it  must 
be  left  to  act  in  defiance  of  law,  or  in  evasion  of  it. 
On  October  31,  1701,  a  contract  was  entered  into 
by  the  governor-general  and  intendant  with  "  The 
Company  of  the  Colony  of  Canada,"  whereby  the 
posts  of  Detroit  and  of  Frontenac  on  Lake  Onta- 
rio were  ceded  to  the  company  for  traffic  in  furs, 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  the  company  as- 
suming various  obligations,  the  chief  of  which 
were  to  put  and  keep  the  forts  in  repair,  and  to 
maintain  at  Detroit  the  commandant  and  one 
other  officer.  The  contract  provided  under  severe 
penalties  that  the  commandant  and  soldiers  at 
Detroit  should  make  no  trade  in  furs  with  the 
savages  or  French,  directly  or  indirectly,  and 
the  colonial  authorities  thus  evinced  their  willing- 
ness that  the  new  settlement  should  neither  be 
"nourished  by  their  indulgence,"  nor  "grow  by 
their  neglect." 

Cadillac,  having  established  his  post,  proceeded 
to  gather  the  Indians  about  it,  and  for  this  pur- 


CADILLAC  AND   THE  JESUITS.  27 

pose  lie  looked  as  far  as  those  at  Mi  chili  mackinac, 
and  urged  them  to  join  him.  He  was  a  zealous 
son  of  the  Church,  but  affiliated  with  the  order  of 
St.  Francis,  and  his  cordial  dislike  of  the  Jesuits 
may  have  quickened  liis  zeal  in  the  endeavor  to 
break  up  the  mission  at  Michilimackinac,  where 
the  Jesuits  were  supreme.  The  obnoxious  order 
reciprocated  his  dislike  most  fully,  and  his  stay 
at  Detroit  was  one  long  struggle  with  them,  the 
varying  phases  of  which  are  all  brought  out  in 
the  correspondence  of  the  parties  with  the  au- 
thorities of  Canada,  and  that  of  Cadillac  with 
Count  Pontchartrain.  Meantime  the  wishes  of 
the  minister  concerning  the  permanent  settlement 
at  Detroit  seem  not  to  have  been  expressed  with 
the  precision  and  certainty  which  were  important 
to  the  purposes  of  Cadillac,  who  in  170-3  anxiously 
addresses  him  on  the  subject,  with  full  statement 
of  his  own  views.  To  make  success  sure,  he  says, 

«/      ' 

there  must  be  liberty  of  settlement.  He  wishes 
to  know  whether  the  soldiers  should  not  have 
grants  of  land  and  be  permitted  to  marry  when 
able  to  support  families  ;  he  gives  his  own  opin- 
ion decidedly  in  the  affirmative,  and  he  would 
have  dwelling-places  granted  to  the  Canadians, 
who  are  persecuting  him  continually  for  them. 
He  urges  the  minister  to  speak  decidedly  on  this 
point,  for  he  cannot  conceal  the  fact  that  the 
company  which  controls  the  trade  does  not  wish 
to  do  anything  about  it.  Nothing,  he  affirms,  is 


28  MICHIGAN. 

to  be  accomplished  at  Detroit  without  more  in- 
habitants. 

But  Cadillac  was  soon  in  a  quarrel  with  the 
company,  growing  out,  as  he  informed  the  minis- 
ter, of  his  endeavors  to  protect  its  interests  against 
thieving  officers.  This  might  seem  a  strange  rea- 
son elsewhere,  but  it  was  not  strange  in  Canada, 
where  official  peculation  and  knavery,  in  public 
as  well  as  in  corporate  service,  was  the  rule,  and 
continued  to  be  so  until  the  French  power  was 
overthrown.  Montcalm,  half  a  century  later,  de- 
clared that  Canada  was  a  land  where  the  knaves 
grew  rich,  and  the  honest  men  were  ruined.  Be- 
ing at  Montreal  in  the  autumn  of  1704,  Cadillac 
was  arrested  and  charged  before  the  intendant 
with  tyrannical  conduct,  and  though  acquitted  of 
the  charge  he  was  not  given  leave  to  return  to 
his  post  until  September  of  the  following  year. 
When  he  received  permission  he  did  not  avail 
himself  of  it  until  he  had  met  Count  Pontchar- 
train,  who  came  to  Quebec  to  satisfy  himself,  by 
personal  investigation,  of  the  true  nature  of  the 
difficulties  which  appeared  to  hinder  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  new  post.  The  full  and  minute  expla- 
nations which  were  given  him  by  Cadillac  proved 
satisfactory,1  and  it  was  when,  with  his  approval, 
the  commandant  returned  to  his  post  in  1706,  that 
the  Jesuit  fathers  at  Michilimackinac  gave  up  the 

1  The  examination  and  defense  are  given  at  length  in  Sheldon's 
Early  Hist,  of  Michigan,  142  et  seq. 


CADILLACS  DIFFICULTIES.  29 

struggle  with  him  and  abandoned  their  station. 
But  when  Father  Marest  succeeded  them  at  that 
place  the  old  strife  was  renewed,  and  continued 
thereafter  as  active  as  ever. 

The  chief  anxiety  of  Cadillac  was  now  the  be- 
havior of  the  Indians  about  his  fort.  They  were 
of  various  tribes,  and  not  harmonious  ;  and  the 
longing  among  them  for  the  cheap  goods  of  the 
English  caused  some  discontent.  A  fire  at  the 
fort  was  with  much  reason  believed  to  have  been 
the  work  of  dissatisfied  Indians.  A  number  of 
the  Ottawas,  by  invitation,  went  down  to  Al- 
bany in  1703,  and  while  there  were  cunningly 
made  to  believe  that  the  building  of  Fort  Pont- 
chartrain  was  for  the  purpose  of  holding  them 
in  subjection  to  the  French.  They  returned  dis- 
contented, and  there  were  continuous  difficulties 
thereafter.  For  five  years  or  more  the  settlement 
was  in  a  state  of  disquietude,  and  Vaudreuil,  the 
governor-general,  in  1707  summoned  the  princi- 
pal chiefs  to  a  council  at  Montreal,  where  he  re- 
ceived them  with  displeasure  and  rebuke,  and 
after  some  delay  sent  them  back  submissive,  but 
with  jealousies  and  bitterness  towards  each  other. 
Meantime  Cadillac  was  urging  the  entire  aban- 
donment of  Michilimackinac,  but  Aigrement,  who 
was  sent  to  inspect  Detroit  and  remained  at  the 
post  nineteen  days,  reported  strongly  against  the 
plan  of  the  commander.1  How  far  his  report  was 
1  See  report,  Sheldon's  Early  Hist,  of  Michigan,  280. 


30  MICHIGAN. 

meant  to  be  truthful  may  be  a  question,  but  the 
unfriendly  animus  is  apparent.  The  ground  about 
Detroit,  he  says,  is  full  of  water,  and  the  grass- 
hoppers eat  up  all  the  garden  plants,  so  that  it  is 
necessary  to  plant  and  sow  the  same  things  even 
to  the  fourth  time.  But  even  if  the  land  were 
ever  so  productive  there  would  be  no  market  for 
the  surplus,  and  the  trade  of  the  post  would  never 
be  useful  to  France ;  the  result  of  which  would  be 
that  the  establishment  would  always  be  a  burden. 
Michilimackinac,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  ad- 
vanced post  of  all  Canada  ;  the  most  important 
as  well  for  its  advantageous  position  as  for  the 
commerce  that  might  be  made  there.  But  as 
matters  now  are,  brandy  and  ammunition  are  all 
the  goods  sold  to  the  Indians  by  the  French :  all 
else  are  furnished  by  the  English.  Cadillac,  he 
takes  pains  to  add,  is  generally  disliked  for  his 
tyranny. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  report ;  but  it  was  more 
damaging  in  intent  than  in  effect.  The  minister, 
though  sometimes  hesitating,  did  not  fail  in  any 
case,  after  full  explanation  had  been  called  for 
and  received,  to  come  to  the  support  of  Cadillac, 
and  of  his  favorite  post.  The  faithful  and  per- 
sistent commandant  remained  at  Detroit,  and  con- 
tinued to  be  the  life  of  the  settlement  and  the 
chief  figure  in  the  public  affairs  of  this  peninsula 
until  1710,  when  private  affairs  took  him  away 
from  the  colony.  We  hear  of  him  afterwards 


PROHIBITORY  MEASURES.  31 

as  governor  of  Louisiana  for  a  brief  period,  and 
still  later  in  unconspicuous  public  employments  in 
France,  where  he  died  in  1730.  His  life  was  one 
of  varied  usefulness,  but  his  chief  claim  upon  the 
regard  of  posterity  rests  upon  his  having  had  the 
sagacity  to  perceive  that  the  site  of  Detroit  com- 
manded a  great  highway  of  nations,  and  the 
courage  and  persistence  essential  to  the  planting, 
under  many  difficulties  and  against  powerful  op- 
position, of  the  foundations  of  the  City  of  the 
Straits. 

Among  the  complaints  made  of  Cadillac  was 
one  of  the  manner  in  which  he  dealt  with  the 
traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks.  How  to  deal  with 
the  traffic  was  a  problem  that  perplexed  him,  as 
it  has  many  a  statesman  before  and  since  ;  and  if 
his  wisdom  was  inadequate  to  its  mastery,  he  was 
but  one  in  a  long  line  of  American  rulers  who 
have  been  equally  at  fault,  and  equally  unsuccess- 
ful. Brandy  in  Canada,  as  elsewhere,  had  been 
found  the  readiest  and  most  effective  means  of 
making  friends  with  the  savages.  The  Indian 
tasted  it  with  delight,  and  he  loved  it  not  for  its 
taste  merely,  but  for  the  demon  that  was  in  it. 
The  drunken  stage  which  the  white  man  would 
gladly  avoid,  the  Indian  craved  ;  and  the  Jesuit 
soon  found  that  strong  drink  would  prove  a  chief 
obstacle  to  the  success  of  his  labors,  and  that  for 
the  Indian,  if  not  for  the  white  man,  brandy  and 
Christianity  were  irreconcilable.  The  Jesuits, 


32  MICHIGAN, 

therefore,  launched  anathemas  against  the  trade, 
and  when  these  proved  idle  they  obtained  prohi- 
bitions ;  but  when  the  sale  could  no  longer  be 
made  at  the  posts,  it  was  made  in  the  woods. 
Severe  punishments  were  no  restraint ;  at  ono 
time  the  penalty  was  death,  and  several  execu- 
tions actually  took  place ; 1  but  so  desperate  a  rem- 
edy excited  other  passions  among  the  people,  with- 
out cooling  the  passion  for  drink.  Repeatedly  we 
find  it  declared  in  official  reports  and  papers  that 
the  traffic  in  brandy  is  essential  to  trade  anct  to 
friendship  with  the  Indians:  they  must  have  it 
from  the  French,  or  they  will  obtain  it  from  Al- 
bany, and  even  religion  is  concerned  in  their  not 
going  to  Albany,  where  they  may  be  taught 
heresy  to  the  peril  of  their  souls.  Cadillac  him- 
self, when  at  Michilimackinac,  had  strongly  at- 
tested the  necessity  of  the  trade,  but  he  seems  at 
Detroit  to  have  become  firmly  convinced  of  the 
need  of  restraints,  and  to  have  labored  faithfully 
to  establish  them.  Among  the  complaints  which 
Aigrement  makes  of  him  is  one  upon  this  sub- 
ject :  — 

"  In  order  to  prevent  the  disturbances  which  would 
arise  from  the  excessive  use  of  brandy,  M.  La  Motte 
causes  it  all  to  be  put  into  the  storehouse,  and  to  be  sold 
to  each  in  his  turn,  at  the  rate  of  twenty  francs  a  quart. 
Those  who  will  have  it,  French  as  well  as  Indians,  are 

1  Journal  rles  Jesuits,  Oct.,  1661.     See  Parkman's  Old  Regime 
in  Canada,  121,324. 


BRANDY  AND   THE  INDIANS.  33 

obliged  to  go  to  the  storehouse  to  drink,  and  each  can 
obtain  at  one  time  only  the  twenty-fourth  part  of  a 
quart.  It  is  certain  that  the  savages  cannot  become  in- 
toxicated on  that  quantity.  The  price  is  high,  and  as 
they  can  only  get  the  brandy  each  in  his  turn,  it  some- 
times happens  that  the  savages  are  obliged  to  return 
home  without  a  taste  of  this  beverage,  and  they  seem 
ready  to  kill  themselves  in  their  disappointment."  1 

But  Cadillac's  method  of  limiting  the  sale  was 
prob.ibly  wise  for  the  day,  and  the  occasional  fury 
of  disappointment  was  less  to  be  feared  than  the 
voluntary  madness  of  drunken  savages.  A  sub- 
sequent attempt  of  one  of  the  successors  of  Cadil- 
lac to  induce  the  Indians  voluntarily  to  abandon 
the  use  of  brandy  had  much  the  same  basis  in 
reason  as  an  attempt  to  teach  the  wolf  voluntarily 
to  abstain  from  the  taste  of  blood.  In  a  council 
held  on  the  subject  in  1721,  when  it  was  inti- 
mated that  the  French  would  refuse  to  sell  brandy 
longer,  Sastaretsi,  the  Huron  orator,  admitted 
their  right  to  do  so,  and  did  not  deny  that  it 
would  have  been  much  better  if  his  people  had 
never  been  taught  to  use  it ;  but  now,  he  declared, 
they  had  become  so  much  accustomed  to  the  use 
that  they  could  not  do  without  it.  The  inference 
was  that  whether  openly  or  secretly,  from  French 
or  from  English,  the  brandy  they  must  and  would 
have,  and  it  was  useless  to  think  of  preventing  it. 

1  Summary  of  inspection  of  Detroit  and  Michilimackinac,  given 
at  length  in  Sheldon's  Early  Hist,  of  Michigan,  280  et  seq. 
3 


34  MICHIGAN. 

And  that  Sastaretsi  was  right  in  this  is  proved 
by  all  subsequent  Indian  history.  The  restraints 
which  the  law  has  cast  over  the  traffic  have  al- 
ways been  mere  gossamer  threads,  seldom  felt, 
and  noticed  only  as  suggesting  prudence  in  meth- 
ods of  dealing  and  skill  in  evasion. 

Detroit  was  maintained  as  a  military  and  trad- 
ing post  under  Cadillac,  but  it  did  not  grow.  The 
opposition  to  him  and  to  his  settlement  was  so 
vigorous  and  persistent  that  he  was  barely ^able 
to  prevent  its  being  uprooted  and  removed.  The 
force  which,  in  1710,  was  transferred  to  Dubuisson 
as  temporary  commandant  was  smaller  than  that 
with  which  possession  of  the  strait  was  first  taken 
and  the  stockade  fort  erected.  The  weakness  of 
the  post  invited  attack,  and  in  May,  1712,  the 
Outagamies  and  Mascoutins,  who  had  settlements 
near  it,  undertook  to  capture  and  destroy  the  fort, 
but  Dubuisson  had  discovered  their  purpose  and 
was  on  his  guard.  The  Ottawas  and  the  Hurons 
were  not  then  returned  from  their  winter's  hunt, 
but  they  came  in  time  to  save  the  fort.  The  be- 
siegers were  assailed  with  overwhelming  force, 
and  after  flying  for  a  distance  of  twelve  miles 
were  captured  and  slaughtered  to  the  number  of 
a  thousand.  But  the  Outagamies,  though  fear- 
fully weakened  by  this  destruction,  were  not  an- 
nihilated, and  they  remained  unfriendly  and  a 
source  of  danger  and  difficulty  afterwards. 

And  now  for  forty-eight  years,  until  the  final 


PROPOSAL   TO  ABANDON  DETROIT.  35 

sui'render  of  New  France  to  the  English,  the  his- 
tory of  Detroit  is  a  monotonous  record  of  the  bare 
existence  of  a  post,  the  maintenance  of  which  de- 
pended upon  a  trade  which  was  uncertain  and 
subject  to  many  contingencies,  upon  the  friend- 
ship of  savages  who  were  proverbially  treacherous 
and  were  given  abundant  occasions  for  unfriend- 
liness, and  upon  the  favor  of  the  government,  to 
which  it  proved  an  almost  constant  expense.  In- 
cessantly, the  question  was  coming  up  in  public 
councils,  whether  Detroit  should  not  be  aban- 
doned. La  Foret,  who  had  commanded  there  in 
1714,  felt  under  the  need  of  writing  a  memorial 
insisting  upon  its  importance  as  a  military  post, 
but  he  thought  settlement  about  it  should  be 
stopped,  and  the  settlers  excluded  from  the  fort, 
since  the  danger  from  the  savages  rendered  im- 
provement impossible.  Charlevoix,  on  the  other 
hand,  who  visited  the  post  in  1721,  when  Tonty 
was  commandant,  speaks  in  glowing  terms  of  the 
agriculture  about  it,  and  of  the  Huron s  as  sharp 
traders,  who  raise  much  for  sale.  Beauharnais, 
who  was  governor-general  in  1732,  wrote  to  the 
minister :  "  It  is  impossible  for  that  establishment 
to  become  considerable  so  long  as  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  troops  are  not  sent  thither,  to  whom  lands 
would  be  granted  for  the  purpose  of  improvement, 
by  which  course  farmers  would  eventually  be  in- 
troduced." With  a  farming  population  about  it 
"  this  post  would  become  considerable  in  a  short 


86  MICHIGAN. 

time,  and  by  its  strength  keep  all  the  nations  of 
the  upper  country  in  check."  In  1745  Beauhar- 
nais  complained  that  licenses  to  trade  at  Detroit 
and  the  upper  straits,  for  which  before  that  time 
large  sums  had  been  paid,  could  scarcely  be  given 
away;  provisions  were  threatening  to  give  out, 
and  the  Indians  were  mutinous.  The  year  1747 
was  one  of  constant  alarms  of  Indian  hostility,  and 
some  warlike  movements  were  observed  among 
the  Hurons,  which  it  became  necessary  to  .sup- 
press. And  not  long  after,  news  began  to  come 
from  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  which  plainly  fore- 
shadowed a  struggle  for  that  region  of  marvelous 
wealth  and  beauty,  which  would  be  certain  to 
draw  within  its  desolating  vortex  the  people  of 
Detroit  and  the  Indian  tribes  that  lived  near  or 
traded  with  them. 

The  teeming  valley  was  fit  prize  for  the  conten- 
tion of  mighty  nations,  and  each  party  could  ad- 
vance claims  to  it  which,  according  to  the  ideas 
then  prevalent,  had  plausibility:  the  French  by 
right  of  discovery  and  actual  occupation  ;  the  Eng- 
lish by  the  occupation  and  settlement  of  the  sea- 
board in  the  same  latitude,  but  especially  in  the 
right  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy,  which  in  1684, 
when  they  dominated  all  this  region,  had  in  sol- 
emn council  at  Albany  placed  themselves  and  their 
Country  under  English  "protection."  In  1748  the 
Ohio  Company  was  formed,  with  the  avowed  pur- 
pose to  establish  settlements  in  the  Ohio  valley, 


SLOWNESS   OF  DEVELOPMENT.  37 

and  five  years  later  the  youthful  George  Wash- 
ington led  into  the  valley  a  small  military  force, 
and  the  war  began  which  was  to  convulse  Europe, 
and  to  end  only  with  the  entire  overthrow  of 
French  power  in  America.  Fortunately  for  De- 
troit the  Indians  about  it  sympathized  in  this  war 
with  the  French,  and  so  far  as  they  took  part  in 
it  did  so  as  the  allies  of  France.  Detroit,  there- 
fore, heard  the  thunder  of  war  only  in  its  distant 
reverberations,  and  felt  the  shock  but  faintly. 
But  though  undisturbed  it  was  not  prosperous. 
In  1T50  Gallissoniere,  who  had  been  succeeded 
as  governor-general  by  Jon^uiere,  in  a  paper  ad- 
dressed to  the  minister,  pointed  out  in  strong  and 
clear  terms  the  necessity  for  an  agricultural  pop- 
ulation at  the  military  and  trading  posts.  Of  De- 
troit he  said.  "  Did  it  once  contain  a  farming  pop- 
ulation of  a  thousand,  it  would  feed  and  defend  all 
the  rest.  Throughout  the  whole  interior  of  Canada 
it  is  the  best  adapted  for  a  town,  where  all  the 
trade  of  the  lakes  would  concentrate ;  were  it  pro- 
vided with  a  good  garrison  and  surrounded  by  a 
goodly  number  of  settlements,  it  would  be  enabled 
to  overawe  almost  all  the  Indians  of  the  conti- 
nent." Through  persistent  effort  he  succeeded  in 
having  a  few  settlers  sent  out,  who  for  a  time 
received  assistance  from  the  government,  but  the 
gain  to  the  population  was  not  great.  Vaudreuil, 
the  governor-general,  writing  in  1755  to  the  min- 
ister, could  say  of  Detroit,  "  That  post  is  consid- 


38  MICHIGAN. 

erable ;  well  peopled ;  but  three  times  more  peo- 
ple than  it  possesses  could  be  easily  located  there. 
The  misfortune  is  that  we  have  not  enough  of 
people  in  the  colony." 

This  continued  to  be  the  misfortune  until  C<m- 
ada  became  a  British  province.  Colonies  had 
grown  to  greatness  under  English  neglect,  and  in 
the  shadow  of  governmental  disfavor ;  but  under 
the  fostering  care  of  French  supervision  and  nurs- 
ing, they  could  only  languish  in  the  weakness  of 
absolute  dependence.  When  Canada  became  Brit- 
ish there  was  within  the  limits  of  Michigan  no 
settlement  which,  und*er  existing  conditions,  gave 
promise  of  substantial  growth  and  expansion.  At 
Sault  St.  Marie  the  Chevalier  de  Repentigny, 
under  a  large  grant  made  to  him  with  manorial 
rights,  had  made  some  effort  to  plant  a  settle- 
ment, but  it  took  no  root  and  was  soon  forgotten. 
At  Michilimackinac  a  trading  post  and  a  mission 
were  still  maintained,  and  Indians  had  their  vil- 
lages about  it,  and  practiced  such  imperfect  agri- 
culture as  sufficed  for  the  limited  needs  of  their 
indolent  and  unthrifty  mode  of  living.  Detroit 
alone  had  pretensions  to  be  called  a  settlement ; 
but  when  its  age  and  its  magnificent  natural  ad- 
vantages are  considered,  the  pretensions  must  be 
called  but  slight.  For  sixty  years  the  Indians 
had  gathered  in  considerable  numbers  about  it, 
and  raised  their  scanty  crops  in  its  vicinity,  and 
been  given  such  Christian  instruction  as  they 


FRENCH   POLICY  IN  COLONIES.  39 

would  consent  to  receive,  and  far  more  than  they 
were  capable  of  understanding  ;  but  they  still  re- 
mained savages,  and  were  watched  more  than 
they  were  trusted.  The  few  French  agricultural 
settlers  kept  within  easy  reach  of  the  shelter  and 
protection  of  the  fort.  Sixty  years  of  the  French 
system  of  governmental  absolutism,  official  venal- 
ity, trade  monopoly,  and  individual  dependence 
had  maintained  for  the  king  a  nominal  sover- 
eignty over  the  Lake  country,  but  it  had  estab- 
lished no  colony  worthy  the  name.  On  all  the 
upper  lakes  not  a  vessel  unfurled  sails  to  the 
breeze ;  the  canoe  and  other  row-boats  met  the 
wants  of  such  transportation  as  the  existing  traf- 
fic called  for.  There  was  no  printing-press  in 
Michigan,  for  there  was  none  in  all  New  France. 
The  time  was  to  come  when  at  many  a  waterfall 
and  crossing  of  trails  in  the  peninsula,  some  small 
company,  less  numerous  than  that  with  which 
La  Motte  Cadillac  founded  Detroit,  coming  with 
their  axes  and  other  agricultural  implements,  but 
above  all  with  their  families  for  permanent  homes, 
would  within  a  single  year  have  more  of  perma- 
nent worth  to  show  for  their  labors. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PONTIAC'S   VAIN  STEUGGLE  FOR   THE   HOMES 
OF   HIS   PEOPLE. 


the  memorable  eighteenth  of  September, 
1759,  the  garrison  of  Quebec  sorrowfully  opened 
its  gates,  and  the  investing  British  army  marched 
in  and  took  possession.  It  was  the  stronghold  of 
all  Canada  ;  and  from  New  Hampshire  to  Georgia 
Americans  welcomed  the  news  with  exuberant 
rejoicings  as  the  prelude  to  the  inevitable  submis- 
sion of  all  New  France,  and  the  termination  of 
the  savage  warfare  that  under  French  inspiration 
had  so  long  disquieted  and  at  times  devastated 
their  northern  and  western  borders.  Canada  also 
was  alive  to  the  significance  of  the  great  event  ; 
for  it  was  plain  to  all  men  that  the  permanent 
occupation  of  Quebec  by  British  forces  involved 
the  overthow  of  French  power  in  America.  Ac- 
cordingly a  vigorous  effort  was  made  to  recover  the 
place  the  following  year,  but  it  proved  abortive, 
and  on  September  8,  1760,  M.  de  Vaudreuil,  the 
governor-general,  surrendered  Montreal,  and  with 
it  all  Canada,  to  General  Amherst,  the  British 
commander.  By  the  articles  of  capitulation  the 


ROGERS,  THE  PARTISAN  LEADER.  41 

undisturbed  enjoyment  of  their  property  and  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion  were  guarantied 
to  the  people,  but  an  article  stipulating  for  the 
preservation  of  existing  laws  was  refused,  and  the 
people  were  given  to  understand  that  they  had 
become  subjects  of  the  British  crown,  and  would 
be  treated  as  such. 

Four  days  later  General  Amherst  issued  an 
order  to  Major  Robert  Rogers,  directing  him  to 
proceed  with  a  military  force  to  Detroit  and  Mich- 
ilimackinac  and  take  possession  of  those  posts  and 
administer  oaths  of  allegiance  to  the  inhabitants. 
Rogers  was  the  most  noted  partisan  leader  of  the 
day :  he  had  been  active  and  conspicuous  in  the 
war  from  the  first ;  no  Indian  had  surpassed  him 
in  woodcraft  or  in  cunning,  and  few  either  white 
or  red  had  equaled  him  in  daring  or  in  prowess. 
He  had  suffered  hardships  of  every  nature  incident 
to  war :  sickness,  and  wounds,  and  captivity,  and 
starvation  ;  but  his  endurance  was  equal  to  every 
emergency,  and  he  had  come  out  of  every  trial 
with  no  abatement  of  courage  or  determination. 
From  Lake  Champlain  to  Quebec  forest  glens  had 
echoed  the  deadly  reports  of  his  rifle,  and  were 
red  with  the  bloody  footsteps  of  his  men.  He 
received  with  pleasure  the  order  which  was  to 
complete  on  the  upper  lakes  the  victory  at  Que- 
bec, and  started  the  next  day,  taking  the  route 
by  Lake  Ontario,  the  Niagara  River,  and  Lake 
Erie  to  Presque  Isle,  from  which  he  diverged  for 


42  MICHIGAN. 

the  delivery  of  dispatches  to  General  Monckton 
at  Pittsburgh.  Returning  to  Presque  Isle  he  re- 
sumed his  journey  along  the  south  shore  of  Lake 
Erie  until  November  7th,  when  he  encamped  at 
the  mouth  of  a  river  which  he  called  the  Cho- 
gage,  and  which  has  been  variousl}-  conjectured 
to  have  been  the  Chagrin,  the  Cuyahoga,  and  the 
Grand.  Here  he  was  met  by  a  party  of  Indians 
who  announced  themselves  messengers  of  Pon- 
tiac,  the  ruler  and  king  of  all  that  country <-and 
who  admonished  the  British  commander  in  the 
name  of  their  master,  that  no  further  advance 
should  be  made  until  Pontiac,  who  was  near  at 
hand,  should  arrive  and  give  permission.  The 
chief  soon  followed  the  embassy,  and  in  haughty 
tones  demanded  of  Rogers  how  he  dared  to  enter 
his  country  without  permission.  Rogers  replied 
that  he  had  come  with  no  hostile  purpose  against 
the  Indians,  and  that  his  sole  business  was  to  re- 
move from  the  country  the  French,  who  had  been 
an  obstacle  to  peace  and  trade  between  the  In- 
dians and  the  English.  In  token  of  friendship, 
strings  of  wampum  were  then  delivered  to  Pon- 
tiac, who  received  them  graciously,  but  signified 
his  will  that  the  party  should  proceed  no  far- 
ther until  the  morning ;  and  after  exchange  of 
friendly  courtesies  he  took  his  departure.  The 
next  morning  he  again  appeared,  smoked  the 
pipe  of  peace  with  Major  Rogers,  gave  consent 
to  his  proceeding  on  his  journey,  and  offered  to 


THE  FRENCH  ABANDON  THE  FORTS.     43 

accompany  him  to  Detroit  and  give  him  any  nec- 
essary protection  against  unfriendly  or  excited 
Indians.  The  offer  was  accepted  by  Major  Rog- 
ers, and  the  party  proceeded,  sending  forward  in 
advance  a  notification  of  the  coming  and  of  its 
purpose.  M.  Bellestre,  then  in  command  at  De- 
troit, was  still  vainly  hoping  that  Canada,  by  a 
supreme  effort,  might  be  recovered  by  the  French, 
and  he  seems  to  have  made  some  effort  to  arouse 
the  animosity  of  the  Indians  in  the  neighborhood 
against  the  English,  and  to  induce  them  to  aid 
him  in  resistance ;  but  Rogers  gathered  them  in 
council  near  the  mouth  of  the  Detroit  River,  and 
having  assured  them  of  his  fixed  purpose  to  send 
the  French  away,  promised  to  leave  the  Indians  in 
possession  of  their  own  country,  and  to  settle  with 
them  amicably  all  matters  which  might  be  the 
subject  of  controversy.  The  Indians  received  his 
assurances  as  satisfactory,  and  when  on  November 
29th  Rogers  reached  Detroit,  the  French  com- 
mandant, perceiving  that  resistance  would  be  fu- 
tile, surrendered  the  post.  From  Detroit  was  sent 
out  a  detachment  which  took  possession  of  Fort 
Miami  on  the  Maumee  and  Fort  Ouatanon  on  the 
Wabash,  and  Rogers  himself  started  with  a  force 
to  occupy  Michilimackinac,  but  found  the  season 
too  far  advanced,  and  was  obliged  to  abandon  the 
undertaking.  It  was  not  until  the  fall  of  the  next 
year  that  small  forces,  sent  out  from  Detroit  by 
command  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  took  possession 


44  MICHIGAN. 

of  the  forts  at  Michilimackinac,  St.  Marie,  and 
St.  Joseph,  and  garrisoned  them  for  the  British 
crown. 

Thus  ninety  years  after  the  establishment  of 
the  mission  on  the  Straits  of  Michilimackinac,  and 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  founding 
of  Quebec,  the  French  were  compelled  to  yield  to 
their  persistent  rival  the  vast  country  for  which 
they  had  sacrificed  so  much,  and  whose  possession, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  added  so  considerably  to 
the  glory  and  grandeur  of  the  crown  and  promised 
such  great  things  for  the  future.  The  national 
pride  was  humbled,  and  the  national  heart  was 
touched  .also  by  the  necessary  abandonment  of 
the  French  colonists.  Vaudreuil,  the  governor- 
general,, truthfully  said  in  taking  his  departure : 
"  With  these  beautiful  and  vast  countries  France 
loses  seventy  thousand  inhabitants  of  a  rare  qual- 
ity ;  a  race  of  people  unequaled  for  their  docility, 
bravery,  and  loyalty.  The  vexations  they  have 
suffered  for  many  years,  more  especially  during 
the  five  years  preceding  the  reduction  of  Que- 
bec,—  all  without  a  murmur,  or  importuning  their 
king  for  relief,  —  sufficiently  manifest  their  perfect 
submissiveness."  1  The  treaty  of  peace  was  not 
made  between  the  two  countries  until  February 
10,  1763,  but  when  it  came  it  made  final  conces- 
sion of  Canada  to  the  British  crown. 

With  the  triumph  of  Wolfe  on  the  heights  of 
1  Garneau's  Hist,  of  Canada,  by  Bell,  vol.  ii.  p.  71. 


THE  MEANING   OF   WOLFE'S    VICTORY.  45 

Abraham,  it  has  been  said,  began  the  history 
of  the  United  States.  Voltaire,  in  his  retirement 
at  Ferney,  rejoiced  at  the  fall  of  Quebec,  and  the 
inevitable  surrender  of  Canada,  and  celebrated  it 
by  a  banquet  as  the  precursor  of  American  en- 
franchisement. But  this  great  event  meant  more 
than  American  enfranchisement :  it  meant  the 
overthrow  of  the  despotic  principle  in  America, 
and  the  surrender  of  the  continent,  with  all  its  im- 
mense possibilities,  to  the  growing  and  expanding 
ideas  of  English  liberty.  American  enfranchise- 
ment from  the  British  rule  was  an  event  of  fir$t 
importance,  but  its  value  to  the  world  would  have 
been  infinitely  lessened  had  it  not  been  grounded 
on  the  assertion  and  maintenance  of  rights  assured 
to  the  subject  by  English  law.  For  many  cen- 
turies now  the  germs  of  free  institutions  had 
been  planted  in  England,  nurtured  by  the  robust 
thought  and  defended  by  the  vigorous  arms  of  its 
people ;  and  when  from  time  to  time  despotism 
trampled  in  the  dust  the  incipient  attempts  of 
other  nations  to  win  recognition  of  rights  or  to 
gain  relief  from  intolerable  burdens,  the  sea- 
girt island,  in  maintaining  her  independence,  pre- 
served her  liberties  also,  and  the  slow  but  cer- 
tain development  of  free  institutions  went  on 
unchecked.  The  two  opposing  principles  in  gov- 
ernment had  now  grappled  in  a  final  struggle  for 
mastery  in  America,  and  when  despotism  fell,  a 
Britain,  no  longer  needing  the  protection  of  the 


46  MICHIGAN. 

four  seas,  but  stepping  boldly  out  to  occupy  a 
continent  as  master,  began  immediately  to  give 
prophecy  of  that  vast  confederacy  of  common- 
wealths which  was  successively  to  become  the 
rebellious  child,  the  hated  rival,  and  at  last  the 
chief  glory  of  the  island  parent,  and  the  precursor 
of  other  confederacies  of  commonwealths  which 
should  speedily  give  to  the  English  tongue  and  to 
English  liberty  an  undisputed  leadership  on  both 
continents.  ^ 

But  the  immediate  result  of  the  conquest  to  the 
conquered  people  was  far  from  being  either  bene- 
ficial or  agreeable.  The  French  rule  had  been 
arbitrary  and  irresponsible,  but  the  English  rule 
did  not  promise  to  be  immediately  any  less  so. 
It  was,  besides,  the  rule  of  the  stranger  over  a 
people  compelled  to  submit  by  force  of  arms,  and 
every  oppressive  act  would  seem  doubly  oppressive 
from  that  fact.  The  British  commander  at  once 
assumed  supreme  authority,  and  for  the  purposes 
of  the  administration  of  justice  created  a  series  of 
military  courts  to  which  was  given  jurisdiction 
of  all  controversies,  with  no  appeal  in  case  of  dis- 
satisfaction except  to  other  military  authorities,  or 
to  the  commander  himself.  A  military  judiciary, 
always  arbitrary  and  always  obnoxious,  was  made 
preeminently  obnoxious  in  this  case  by  its  being 
required  to  govern  its  decisions  by  the  English 
law,  of  which  the  people  knew  nothing,  instead  of 
the  preexisting  laws  and  usages  of  the  country 


THE  FRENCH  UNDER  ENGLISH  RULE.          47 

to  which  they  were  accustomed,  and  which  were 
dear  to  them  as  the  laws  and  customs  of  their 
native  land.  If  by  English  law  had  been  under- 
stood the  common  law  of  England,  whose  rules 
for  the  protection  of  rights  were  definite  and  just, 
there  would  have  been  less  reason  to  complain  ; 
but  military  judges  are  to  be  expected  to  have 
some  degree  of  contempt  for  common  law  methods, 
and  are  likely  in  rejecting  the  methods  to  put 
substance  aside  also,  and  make  their  will  the  test 
of  right.  With  the  intelligent  among  the  people 
the  sense  of  oppression  was  increased  by  the 
knowledge  that  this  uprooting  of  the  pasting  law 
by  the  conquering  power  was  not  according  to  the 
customary  practice  of  civilized  nations,  and  might 
for  that  reason  be  justly  suspected  as  promising  a 
rule  exceptionally  despotic  even  for  the  military ; 
and  many  of  the  most  enterprising  and  thrifty 
abandoned  the  country,  leaving  the  population 
sensibly  diminished.  Some  of  these  returned  to 
France ;  many  accepted  the  invitation  of  the 
people  of  Louisiana  to  remove  to  that  district ; 
and  when  St.  Louis  was  founded  in  1764  some 
became  residents  of  that  town.  Those  who  re- 
mained under  British  rule  submitted  with  out- 
ward cheerfulness,  but  without  the  loyalty  of 
feeling  and  spirit  so  essential  in  times  of  public 
danger. 

If   the  establishment   of   unrestricted   military 
tribunals  was  not  likely  to   please  the  French, 


48  MICHIGAN. 

still  less  would  the  management  of  public  affairs 
tend  to  conciliate  the  Indians,  or  to  establish  rela- 
tions of  trustworthy  amity  with  them.  Most  of 
the  savages  living  in  the  upper  lake  region,  hav- 
ing taken  the  part  of  the  French  in  the  wars 
which  preceded  the  conquest,  still  looked  upon 
the  French  as  their  friends,  and  would  gladly  have 
seen  the  country  restored  to  their  dominion.  A 
strong  hope  prevailed  among  them,  which  might 
easily  become  a  belief,  that  a  reconquest  m>uld 
yet  take  place,  and  the  advances  they  made  to- 
wards cordial  relations  with  the  English  were 
half-heartec^  and  such  only  as  temporary  interest 
seemed  to  prompt.  On  the  other  hand  the  Eng- 
lish authorities,  with  strange  disregard  of  the  de- 
mands of  the  situation,  not  only  neglected  to 
take  proper  steps  to  wean  the  Indians  from  their 
French  attachments,  and  to  convert  them  from 
enmity  to  friendship,  buf  by  a  cold,  haughty,  and 
reserved  demeanor  they  repelled  advances,  and 
thereby  gave  serious  offense  even  in  the  case  of 
influential  personages,  whose  favor  and  friendship 
were  necessary  to  amicable  relations.  Wttere  the 
French  officer  was  easy  and  complaisant,  and  by 
his  courteous  bearing  avoided  wounding  the  self- 
respect  of  the  Indian,  the  English  officer,  con- 
scious of  his  superiority  over  the  brutal  and  dis- 
gusting savage,  and  impatient  of  any  assumption 
of  equality,  took  little  pains  to  conceal  his  con- 
tempt  and  repugnance,  and  was  perpetually  allow- 


THE  ENGLISH  AND   THE  INDIANS.  49 

ing  himself  to  be  guilty  of  slights  and  affronts  to 
which  only  the  most  abject  could  be  expected  to 
submit  without  resentment.  The  customary  pres- 
ents which  the  Indians  expected,  and  which  the 
French  had  made  on  a  scale  of  liberality,  the 
English  either  discontinued  entirely  or  measured 
by  a  standard  of  economy  which  showed  them  to 
be  given  not  in  friendship,  but  grudgingly,  and  de- 
prived them  of  all  efficacy  as  a  means  of  preserv- 
ing amicable  relations.  Lieutenant  Gorrell,  when 
he  was  sent  to  receive  the  surrender  of  the  more 
western  posts,  was  instructed  to  give  the  Indians 
no  more  presents  than  was  absolutely  necessary 
to  keep  them  in  temper,1  —  instructions  which  he 
might  well  say  made  him  uneasy,  so  different 
were  they  in  spirit  from  the  policy  which  had 
prevailed  with  the  French.  And  what  was  nom- 
inally given  was  often  dishonestly  appropriated 
by  agents,  or  only  delivered  to  the  Indians  to 
whom  it  was  sent  when  they  had  paid  for  it  such 
sum  as  the  agent  saw  fit  to  exact.2  In  Western 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  the  settlers  were  con- 
tinually encroaching  upon  the  lands  of  the  In- 
dians, and  though  the  tribes  west  of  the  lakes 
were  as  yet  unmolested,  they  saw  in  the  case 
of  their  brothers  what  they  might  soon  expect 
from  the  restless  and  greedy  English,  and  they 
perceived  very  clearly  that  in  this  particular,  at 

1  Wis.  Hist.  Col.  vol.  i.  p.  32 

2  Stone's  Life  of  Sir  Wm.  Johnson,  vol.  ii.  p.  137. 

4 


50  MICHIGAN. 

least,  the  cause  of  one  tribe  was  the  cause  of  all. 
Jefferson  did  not  exaggerate  when  he  said  that 
the  settlers  in  many  cases  regarded  neither  the 
laws,  treaties,  nor  proclamations  of  their  own  gov- 
ernment, nor  the  remonstrances  of  the  Indians, 
and  that  the  lives  of  men,  women,  and  children 
were  ruthlessly  taken  by  them. 

More  than  ever  before  trade  with  the  Indians 
was  now  the  occasion  of  injustice  and  outrage, 
and  exasperations  arising  from  it  were  frequent. 
Under  French  sway  some  degree  of  fair  dealing 
was  secured  to  the  savage  ;  the  trader  became  his 
friend  and  boon  companion,  and  made  his  com- 
ing to  dispose  of  his  peltry  an  occasion  for  festiv- 
ity and  roisterous  goodfellowship,  when  all  would 
partake  of  the  same  fare,  drink  of  the  same  bev- 
erages, and  indulge  in  the  same  sports.  At  Detroit 
and  elsewhere  some  of  these  traders  remained, 
and  of  the  new-comers  some  were  Scotch,  with 
many  characteristics  resembling  those  of  their 
predecessors,  who  sought,  while  making  great 
profits  out  of  the  Indians,  to  win  and  preserve 
their  favor.  But  there  were  many  of  a  different 
sort,  whose  greed  knew  no  bounds,  and  in  whose 
service,  as  Park  man  has  forcibly  said,  "  were  ruf- 
fians of  the  coarsest  stamp,  who  vied  with  each 
other  in  rapacity,  violence,  and  profligacy.  They 
cheated,  plundered,  and  cursed  the  Indians  and 
outraged  their  families,  offering,  when  compared 
with  the  French  traders  who  were  under  better 


THE  INDIANS  AND  LIQUOR.  51 

regulation,  a  most  unfavorable  example  of  the 
character  of  their  nation."  l  Liquor  was  the  ever 
ready  means  by  the  use  of  which  the  Indian  was 
defrauded.  Returning  from  the  chase  after  long 
abstinence,  his  eagerness  for  intoxicating  drinks 
was  passionate,  and  when  once  indulged,  his  rea- 
son and  his  self-restraint  were  overcome,  and  he 
was  powerless  for  any  purpose  of  self-protection. 
We  get  a  vivid  picture  of  what  must  have  been 
a  frequent  occurrence  at  Detroit  from  the  narra- 
tive of  a  white  person  who  was  taken  prisoner  in 
Western  Pennsylvania  and  adopted  into  one  of 
the  Indian  tribes. 

"  A  trader  [he  says]  came  to  town  with  French 
brandy  ;  we  purchased  a  keg  of  it,  and  held  a  council 
about  who  was  to  get  drunk  and  who  was  to  keep  sober. 
I  was  invited  to  get  drunk,  but  I  refused  the  proposal ; 
then  they  told  me  I  must  be  one  of  those  who  were  to 
take  care  of  the  drunken  people.  I  did  not  like  this, 
but  of  two  evils  I  chose  that  which  I  thought  was  the 
least,  and  fell  in  with  those  who  were  to  conceal  the 
arms  and  keep  every  dangerous  weapon  we  could  out  of 
their  way,  and  endeavor,  if  possible,  to  keep  the  drink- 
ing club  from  killing  each  other,  which  was  a  very  hard 
task.  Several  times  we  hazarded  our  own  lives,  and  got 
ourselves  hurt  in  preventing  them  from  slaying  each 
other."  2 

1  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  155. 

2  Account  of  Remarkable  Occurrences,  etc.,  by  Col.  James  Smith, 
76. 


52  MICHIGAN. 

The  debauch  went  on  while  a  beaver  skin  re- 
mained, and  when  it  was  over  the  Indian  found 
he  had  exchanged  for  it  the  results  of  his  labors 
for  weeks  or  months.  If  he  ventured  to  make 
complaint  he  was  answered  with  curses  and  blows, 
and  was  driven  off  as  a  creature  whose  presence, 
now  that  his  immediate  usefulness  to  the  unscru- 
pulous trader  was  exhausted,  had  become  repul- 
sive. Nor  was  the  trader  any  more  regardful  of 
the  rights  or  of  the  safety  of  the  white  settlers 
than  of  the  Indians  ;  for  in  the  time  immediately 
preceding  Pontiac's  war,  when  the  government  of 
Pennsylvania  had  forbidden  trade  with  the  In- 
dians from  regard  to  the  public  safety,  traders 
did  not  scruple  openly  to  disobey  the  law,  and 
supplied  the  Indians  freely  with  the  maddening 
liquors  and  with  the  very  guns  and  ammunition 
by  the  use  of  which  they  were  subsequently  en- 
abled to  plunder  and  ravage  the  frontier.  So  bold 
and  reckless  was  the  defiance  of  law  by  the  deal- 
ers that  in  some  cases  the  indignant  people  retali- 
ated with  violence,  and  seized  and  destroyed  their 
stores.  When,  however,  the  Indian  alone  was  the 
sufferer  from  fraud  and  lawless  rapacity,  his  com- 
plaints received  little  attention  from  either  the 
authorities  or  the  people,  and  any  resentment  on 
his  part  that  went  to  the  extreme  of  violence  was 
certain  to  be  regarded  as  the  outrage  of  a  savage, 
which  must  be  visited  with  swift  and  condign  ret- 
ribution. But  there  was  very  general  recogni- 


FAILURE  TO  STRENGTHEN  THE  COLONY.       53 

tioti  of  the  fact  that  difficulties  began  with  the 
traders,  and  so  loud  and  so  general  had  become 
the  complaints  of  misconduct  and  outrage  on  their 
part,  that  in  the  summer  of  1761  Sir  William 
Johnson  was  sent  to  Detroit  with  full  authority 
to  correct  such  evils  as  he  might  find  to  exist,  and 
to  take  into  his  own  hands  complete  supervision 
and  control  of  Indian  trade  in  the  Northwest.  He 
reached  Detroit  in  the  beginning  of  September, 
where  he  held  council  with  a  number  of  Indian 
tribes,  and  no  doubt  did  whatever  seemed  to  him 
possible  in  the  correction  of  abuses.  But  the  cor- 
rection, when  the  restraining  power  was  to  be  at 
a  distance,  could  at  best  be  only  temporary  and 
partial :  greed  was  more  powerful  than  the  sense 
of  justice  or  the  feeling  of  humanity,  and  the 
story  of  one  year  was  repeated  in  the  next  with 
variation  only  of  actors  and  minor  circumstances. 
Meantime  nothing  was  being  done  in  the  North- 
west to  strengthen  the  exposed  settlements  by 
bringing  about  them  what  they  needed  most  of 
all,  a  class  of  agricultural  laborers,  who  would 
live  on  the  results  of  their  own  industry.  The 
French  were  not  brought  into  sentiments  of  at- 
tachment to  their  new  government  by  a  concilia- 
tory deportment  towards  them,  and  with  both 
French  and  Indians  the  hope  was  indulged  that 
the  overthrow  of  French  power  would  prove  but 
temporary,  and  that  before  long  that  great  na- 
tion might  be  expected  to  put  forth  its  mighty 


54  MICHIGAN. 

energies  for  the  recovery  of  its  lost  prestige  and 
dominion. 

The  fires  of  discontent  were  smouldering  every- 
where, and  nothing  was  needed  but  the  breath  of 
a  bold  and  daring  spirit  to  blow  them  into  flame. 
And  such  a  spirit  promptly  appeared  on  the  stage. 
Pontiac,  who  with  such  haughtiness  had  inter- 
posed to  stay  the  advance  of  Major  Rogers,  was 
one  of  those  rare  characters  among  the  Indians 
whose  merits  are  so  transcendent  that,  without 
the  aid  of  adventitious  circumstances,  they  take 
by  common  consent  the  headship  in  peace  and  the 
leadership  in  war.  In  battle  he  had  shown  his 
courage,  in  council  his  eloquence  and  his  wisdom  ; 
he  was  wary  in  planning  and  indefatigable  in  exe- 
cution ;  his  patriotism  was  ardent  and  his  ambi- 
tion boundless,  and  he  was  at  this  time  in  all 
the  region  between  the  head-waters  of  the  Ohio 
and  the  distant  Mississippi,  the  most  conspicuous 
figure  among  the  savage  tiibes,  and  the  predes- 
tined leader  in  any  undertaking  which  should  en- 
list the  general  interest.  Of  the  Ottawas  he  was 
the  principal  chief,  and  he  made  his  home  at  their 
village  opposite  and  a  little  above  Detroit,  with  a 
summer  residence  on  Peche  Island  in  Lake  St. 
Clair.  But  he  was  also  chief  of  a  loose  Confed- 
eracy of  the  Ottawas,  Ojibwas,  and  Pottawat- 
amies,  and  his  influence  extended  far  beyond 
those  tribes,  and  placed  him  above  rivalry  in  all 
the  lake  region  and  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  The 


PONT  I  ACS    VIEWS.  55 

change  in  territorial  sovereignty  had  not  been 
agreeable  to  him  ;  he  perceived  very  clearly  that 
with  the  accession  of  the  English  to  undisputed 
sway  in  the  interior,  the  greatness  and  even  the 
security  of  his  people  were  threatened,  and  that 
unless  bounds  could  be  set  to  English  encroach- 
ments the  Indians  must  inevitably  be  debased  by 
their  enticements,  robbed  by  their  unscrupulous 
arts,  and  at  last  driven  from  their  homes  and  their 
hunting  grounds  by  a  rapacity  that  seemed  insati- 
able. While  the  French  held  Canada  the  Indians 
had  been  courted  by  both  sides  as  holding  a  cer- 
tain effective  power  which  made  their  friendship 
of  high  value ;  but  now  that  Prance  had  appar- 
ently abandoned  the  long  struggle  for  a  share  in 
the  new  world,  the  Indian  was  made  to  feel  that 
he  110  longer  had  an  importance  entitling  him  to 
respect,  but  was  an  inferior  being  whose  rights 
were  subordinate  to  the  interests  of  the  superior 
race,  and  who  in  all  controversies  would  be  held 
presumptively  in  the  wrong,  and  compelled  to 
submit  to  such  justice  as  his  adversaries  should 
see  fit  to  concede  to  him.  To  a  bold  and  haughty 
spirit  like  that  of  Pontiac,  this  condition  of  things 
was  intolerable,  and  he  resolved  to  strike  a  blow 
that  should  at  once  break  the  yoke  of  servitude, 
and  be  ample  warning  against  further  encroach- 
ments upon  Indian  rights  and  territorial  and  per- 
sonal independence.  In  the  preparation  for  this 
blow  he  had  the  important,  if  not  indispensable, 


56  MICHIGAN. 

assistance  of  a  prophet,  who  sprang  up  among 
the  Delawares  at  the  need  of  the  hour,  and  who 
promised  his  people  restoration  to  their  former 
importance  and  power,  on  condition,  however,  that 
they  should  abandon  the  arts  and  the  habits  of 
civilized  life,  throw  away  the  implements  which 
they  had  received  from  the  white  people,  and  re- 
turn once  more  to  their  primitive  simplicity. 

The  British  advanced  posts  at  this  time  compre- 
hended Niagara,  Pitt,  formerly  Du  QuesnevXigo- 
nier,  southeast  of  Pitt,  Le  Boeuf  and  Venango  on 
the  Alleghany,  Presque  Isle,  Sandusky,  Miami, 
where  Fort  Wayne  was  afterwards  built,  Detroit, 
Michilimackinac,  Le  Baye  at  the  head  of  Green 
Bay,  St.  Joseph  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  of  that 
name,  and  Ouatanon  on  the  Wabash.  The  plan 
devised  by  Pontiac  for  their  reduction,  while  thor- 
oughly characteristic  of  his  race,  was  worthy  of 
his  masterly  mind.  He  proposed  by  preconcerted 
action  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  all  these  posts  to  surprise  and  capture 
them  simultaneously,  and  thus  at  one  blow  to 
annihilate  British  power  in  the  West.  To  make 
his  scheme  successful  he  needed  to  enlist  not  only 
all  Indians  under  his  immediate  control,  but  the 
Senecas  of  New  York  also ;  and  this  he  found 
means  to  accomplish. 

Detroit  being  the  most  important  and  com- 
manding of  all  the  posts,  Pontiac  in  person  took 
charge  of  the  movement  against  it.  The  fort  had 


FAILURE  OF  THE  INDIAN  STRATAGEM.         f)7 

a  garrison  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-eight  men, 
under  command  of  Major  Gladwyn;  a  number  of 
fur-traders  with  their  servants  were  living  within 
the  stockade,  which  also  inclosed  the  town  proper, 
and  the  dwellings  outside  along  the  shore  were 
almost  exclusively  of  French  farmers  and  garden- 
ers. Below  the  town  on  the  western  side  was  a 
village  of  the  Pottawatamies;  opposite  was  one  of 
the  Wyandots,  and  farther  up  was  that  of  the 
Ottawas,  as  before  stated.  The  stratagem  which 
Pontiac  devised  was  to  have  his  warriors  shorten 
their  rifles  to  a  length  which  would  admit  of  their 
being  concealed  under  their  blankets,  and  then,  un- 
der pretense  of  a  council,  obtain  admission  to  the 
fort,  and  at  a  given  signal  fall  upon  and  slaughter 
the  unsuspecting  and  unprepared  garrison. 

The  plan  came  so  near  success  that  its  failure 
seems  almost  providential.  The  process  of  short- 
ening their  guns  by  files  and  saws  was  observed 
by  some  of  the  French  settlers,  one  of  whom 
communicated  the  fact  to  Major  Gladwyn,  and 
warned  him  that  danger  was  brewing.  But  Glad- 
wyn paid  no  heed  to  the  warning,  and  seems  to 
have  had  a  strange  and  unaccountable  confidence 
in  his  savage  neighbors.  On  the  following  day, 
however,  which  was  May  6,  1763,  an  Indian  maid 
who  had  become  possessed  of  the  plan,  and  who 
cherished  kindly  feelings  for  the  commandant, 
managed  to  obtain  a  private  interview  with  him, 
and  revealed  the  full  extent  of  the  conspiracy  and 


58  MICHIGAN. 

of  his  danger.  Pontiac,  she  informed  him,  with 
sixty  other  chiefs  was  to  come  the  next  day  to  the 
fort,  with  their  shortened  guns  under  their  blan- 
kets, and  demand  a  council.  This  being  granted 
he  would  deliver  his  speech,  and  then  offer  a  belt 
of  wampum,  but  holding  it  in  reversed  position, 
which  would  be  the  signal  for  attack.  The  chiefs 
were  instantly  to  spring  to  their  feet  and  shoot 
down  the  officers,  and  the  other  Indians  were  im- 
mediately to  rush  in  and  massacre  the  soldier's  and 
the  traders.  Not  an  Englishman  was  to  be  left 
alive,  but  all  Frenchmen  were  to  be  spared  as  not 
being  their  enemies. 

Gladwyn  immediately  prepared  for  the  emer- 
gency, and  when  Pontiac  with  his  subordinate 
chiefs  entered  the  gateway  of  the  fortress  the 
next  morning,  he  was  startled  at  perceiving  the 
garrison  under  arms,  and  the  fur-traders  posted 
with  their  rifles  at  commanding  positions,  as  if 
awaiting  attack.  It  was  evident  his  treachery 
was  discovered ;  but  he  preserved  his  composure 
and  proceeded  to  the  council-house,  where  Glad- 
wyn and  the  other  officers  were  awaiting  him  as 
if  anticipating  only  a  friendly  interview.  The 
wily  chieftain  demanded  to  be  informed  why  the 
men  were  in  hostile  array,  and  was  told  they  had 
been  ordered  under  arms  for  discipline  and  ex- 
ercise. With  hesitation  and  evident  distrust  he 
rose  at  length  to  make  his  speech,  which  in  terms 
was  friendly,  and  expressive  of  attachment  to  the 


GLADWYN  BAFFLES  PONTIAC.  59 

English.  Gladwyn  answered  calmly,  without  in- 
timating any  suspicions  of  their  intentions,  and 
after  receiving  some  trifling  presents,  the  Indians 
retired  to  their  camp.  The  next  morning  Pontiac 
came  with  three  of  his  chiefs  and  renewed  the 
friendly  professions,  and  again  on  the  morning  of 
May  9th  he  made  his  appearance,  but  this  time 
accompanied  by  a  great  crowd  of  Indians.  The 
gate  was  shut  against  them,  and  Pontiac  de- 
manded to  be  informed  why  he  was  refused  ad- 
mittance to  the  fort.  The  commandant  replied 
that  the  chief  should  be  free  to  enter,  but  that 
the  crowd  which  accompanied  him  must  remain 
outside.  To  this  the  savage  rejoined  that  he  de- 
sired his  warriors  to  enjoy  with  him  the  fragrance 
of  the  pipe  of  peace.  But  Gladwyn  was  immov- 
able, and  Pontiac,  baffled  and  enraged,  turned 
away,  and  entering  a  boat,  proceeded  to  the  Ot- 
tawa village  on  the  opposite  shore.  His  followers 
were  now  fully  aware  that  further  attempts  at 
deception  would  be  useless  ;  the  war-whoop  was 
immediately  raised,  and  while  some  rushed  to  a 
house  on  the  common  occupied  by  an  English 
woman  with  her  family,  whom  they  immediately 
slaughtered  and  scalped,  others  pulled  off  in  a 
boat  to  Isle  au  Cochon,  where  an  Englishman  had 
his  home,  and  subjected  him  to  the  same  fate. 

That  night  the  Ottawa  population  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  western  shore,  and  at  daybreak 
a  desperate  attempt  was  made  upon  the  fort,  and 


60  MICHIGAN. 

for  six  hours  was  kept  up  continuously,  but  with- 
out avail.  Two  armed  vessels  anchored  in  front 
of  the  fort  rendered  valuable  assistance  to  the  gar- 
rison, and  the  efforts  of  the  besiegers  soon  began 
to  show  indications  of  discouragement.  Gladwyn 
now  hoping  that  the  whole  affair  was  but  a  tem- 
porary ebullition  of  anger  on  the  part  of  the 
Indians,  attempted  to  open  negotiations  with  their 
commander,  but  this  only  resulted  in  Major  Camp- 
bell and  Lieutenant  McDougall  being  inveigled 
into  the  hands  of  Pontiac,  where  they  were  treach- 
erously detained.  McDougall  in  a  short  time  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping,  but  Campbell  met  a  tragic 
fate,  being  seized,  bound  to  a  tree,  and  shot  to 
death  with  arrows  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  an 
Ojibwa  chief  whose  scalp  had  been  foolishly  ex- 
hibited in  derision  at  the  fort.  That  no  circum- 
stance of  horror  might  be  wanting,  his  heart  was 
torn  out  and  devoured. 

From  this  time  savage  ingenuity  was  exhausted 
in  vain  endeavor  to  capture  Detroit.  The  assaults 
upon  other  posts  were  attended  with  more  success. 
Sandusky,  St.  Joseph,  Miami,  Ouatanon,  Presque 
Isle,  Le  Bo3uf,  and  Venango  were  all  captured  in 
the  months  of  May  and  June,  and  in  order  of  time 
as  here  enumerated.  The  fate  of  Michilimackinac 
was  highly  dramatic  and  tragical,  and  the  story 
as  told  by  Alexander  Henry,1  the  trader  who 

1  Travels  and  Adventures  in  Canada  and  Indian  Territories, 
1760-1766. 


THE  PERIL  OF  DETROIT.  61 

chanced  to  be  present  and  was  fortunate  enough 
to  escape,  is  one  of  the  most  exciting,  as  well  as 
most  familiar,  in  the  literature  of  savage  warfare. 
The  succession  of  dramatic  incident  could  not  be 
given  in  brief  without  marring  its  intensity  of 
interest ;  but  in  the  narrative  of  Henry  and  in  a 
subsequent  letter  from  the  commandant  to  Glad- 
wyn,1  we  are  presented  the  picture  of  the  Indians 
gathering  about  the  fort  as  for  a  day's  sport,  the 
unsuspicious  commandant  opening  his  gates  to 
their  squaws,  who  strolled  in  one  by  one  with 
arms  concealed  under  their  blankets,  the  Indians 
engaging  in  their  favorite  game  of  baggatiway, 
and  throwing  the  ball  back  and  forth,  nearer  and 
nearer  the  stockade,  until  at  last  it  lands  in  the 
fort,  when  they  rush  in  as  if  to  recover  it,  and 
once  in,  raise  the  war-cry,  and  seizing  the  con- 
cealed weapons,  fall  to  the  work  of  scalping  and 
slaughter.  All  the  English  not  slain  were  made 
prisoners,  but  no  violence  was  offered  to  any 
Frenchman. 

Detroit  so  far  had  escaped,  but  its  fate  for  a 
long  time  seemed  uncertain.  One  detachment 
sent  from  Niagara  for  its  relief  was  intercepted 
and  driven  back ;  another,  under  Captain  Dalzell, 
was  more  successful.  Desirous  of  signalizing  his 
coming  by  some  marked  achievement,  the  captain 
planned  and  executed  a  night  attack  on  the  Indian 
camp,  but  was  ambushed  at  a  stream  two  miles 

1  June  12,  1763 :   Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  596. 


62  MICHIGAN. 

above  the  fort  and  slain  with  many  of  his  men, 
This  fight  occurred  on  July  30th,  and  thereafter 
for  a  time  the  siege  was  pushed  with  vigor.  But 
the  reinforcement  had  put  the  garrison  in  better 
condition  for  resistance  than  before,  and  though 
the  siege  went  on,  the  prospects  of  success  contin- 
ually diminished.  Early  in  October  the  Ojibwas 
made  some  advances  towards  peace.  At  the  end 
of  that  month,  Pontiac,  who  up  to  that  time  had 
cherished  hopes  of  French  intervention  and*  as- 
sistance, was  advised  by  letter  from  M.  Neyon, 
commandant  at  Fort  Chartres,  that  hopes  of  as- 
sistance from  that  quarter  were  idle,  and  that  it 
would  be  wise  for  him  to  abandon  hostilities. 
From  that  time  the  siege  was  substantially  raised 
for  the  winter,  and  the  Indians  went  off  on  their 
annual  hunt.  In  the  spring  hostilities  were  re- 
newed about  the  fort,  but  to  little  effect.  Mean- 
time Sir  William  Johnson,  who  best  of  all  the 
English  officials  understood  the  Indian  character, 
and  was  fitted  by  temperament  and  sympathy  to 
deal  with  the  savages,  was  arranging  for  a  grand 
council  at  Niagara  in  the  summer,  witli  a  view  to 
bringing  about  a  general  peace.  The  meeting 
which  he  succeeded  in  procuring  was  attended  by 
a  great  number  of  Indians,  including  not  only 
many  from  the  several  tribes  of  the  Iroquois  Con- 
federacy, but  Caughnawagas  from  Canada,  Otta- 
was,  Ojibwas,  Wyandots,  Winnebagoes,  Menom- 
jnies,  Sacs,  and  Foxes,  and  even  the  Osages  from 


END   OF  FONTIAC'S  SCHEME.  63 

beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  many  others.  The 
conciliatory  deportment  of  Sir  William  Johnson 
and  a  liberal  distribution  of  presents  had  the  de- 
sired effect  upon  the  Indians,  and  they  returned 
to  their  homes  in  a  peaceful  frame  of  mind. 
General  Bradstreet,  with  a  considerable  army, 
was  then  on  his  way  to  Detroit,  where  he  arrived 
at  the  end  of  August,  relieving  the  garrison  from 
its  long  beleaguerment.  A  detachment  was  im- 
mediately sent  up  to  take  possesssion  of  Michili- 
mackinac  and  to  reoccupy  the  abandoned  posts 
of  St.  Marie  and  Green  Bay,  all  of  which  was  ac- 
complished without  noteworthy  incident. 

Pontiac  haughtily  held  aloof  from  all  negotia- 
tions, and  repelled  all  advances.  In  the  summer 
of  1764  he  was  in  the  West  endeavoring  to  stimu- 
late the  Western  tribes  to  vigorous  measures.  He« 
was  also  soliciting  aid  from  the  French ;  but  all 
his  efforts  were  without  avail.  He  even  sent  an 
embassy  to  New  Orleans,  where  the  French, 
though  the  territory  had  been  ceded  to  Spain, 
were  still  in  possession ;  but  he  received  no  en- 
couragement from  that  quarter.  This  was  the 
end  of  his  hopes.  On  August  27,  1765,  he  met 
George  Croghan,  the  emissary  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  in  a  conference  at  Detroit,  and  smoked 
with  him  the  pipe  of  peace.  "  It  is  your  chil- 
dren's pipe,"  he  said,  "  and  as  the  war  is  all  over, 
and  the  Great  Spirit  and  Giver  of  Light,  who 
has  made  the  earth  and  everything  therein,  has 


64  MICHIGAN. 

brought  us  all  together  this  day  for  our  mutual 
good,  I  declare  to  all  nations  that  I  have  settled 
my  peace  with  you  before  I  came  here,  and  now 
deliver  my  pipe  to  be  sent  to  Sir  William  John- 
son, that  he  may  know  I  have  made  peace  and 
taken  the  King  of  England  for  my  father."  But 
he  was  then  settled  on  the  Maumee,  and  declined 
the  invitation  to  return  to  his  old  home,  assign- 
ing for  his  refusal  a  reason  that,  to  one  who  loved 
his  race  and  desired  its  preservation,  should  have 
been  conclusive.  "  If  we  dwelt  near  you  at  our 
old  village  of  Detroit  our  warriors  would  always 
be  drunk,  and  quarrels  would  arise  between  us 
and  you."  "  Where  we  live  is  so  nigh  to  you  that 
when  we  want  to  drink  we  can  easily  come  for 
it." 1  Pontiac  plainly  saw  that  the  struggle  for 
•the  independence  of  his  people  was  ended,  and 
that  nothing  remained  for  them  now  but  present 
subjection  and,  if  they  remained  in  the  vicinity 
of  white  settlements,  degrading  dissipation  with 
ultimate  extinction.  In  July  of  the  next  year  he 
met  Sir  William  Johnson  himself  at  Oswego,  and 
renewed  in  the  most  formal  manner  his  assurances 
of  friendship.  He  assumed  to  speak  the  voice  of 
all  the  Western  nations,  and  Sir  William  was  as- 
sured by  him  that  what  he  agreed  to  do  would 
be  a  law  to  them.  With  vague  reference  to  what 
had  gone  before,  he  submissively  said  that  "  He 
who  made  the  Universe  would  have  it  so." 

1  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  556 ;  Hildreth's  Pioneer  History,  76. 


DEATH  OF  PONTIAC.  65 

The  masterly  but  unavailing  effort  of  Pontiac 
for  the  independence  and  preservation  of  his  race 
is  often  spoken  of  as  a  conspiracy ;  but  making 
due  allowance  for  the  barbarous  methods  of  In- 
dian warfare,  the  fair  mind  must  admit  that  it 
was  as  patriotic  and  as  deserving  of  generous 
commemoration  as  the  struggle  of  Cromwell  for 
the  liberties  of  Englishmen,  or  of  Kosciusko  for 
the  independence  of  Poland.  A  year  later  the 
great  chieftain  was  assassinated  at  Cahokia,  Il- 
linois, by  a  Kaskaskia  Indian  instigated  to  the 
crime  by  an  English  trader,  and  by  the  gift  of  a 
barrel  of  liquor  and  the  promise  of  further  re- 
ward. The  dastardly  murder  brought  speedy  ven- 
geance upon  the  assassin,  his  tribe,  and  all  their 
allies.  But  the  chief  criminal  was  unmolested, 
and  as  only  Indians  were  the  victims,  the  consti- 
tuted authorities  abstained  from  all  interference. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A  DECADE   OF   MILITARY   ABSOLUTISM. 

PONTIAC'S  war  had  desolated  many  settlements, 
and  left  behind  only  the  ashes  of  burned  habita- 
tions and  the  bleaching  bones  of  the  people.  But 
in  the  vicinity  of  Detroit  its  desolating  tracks 
were  few  and  soon  effaced.  The  French  people 
then  resident  in  Michigan  had  not  been  looked 
upon  by  the  Indians  as  enemies,  and  the  war  had 
been  waged  not  against  them,  but  against  the 
English,  who  held  them  in  subjection  by  force  of 
arms.  "  It  is  not  to  avenge  myself  alone,"  said 
Pontiac  to  the  French  of  Detroit,  "that  I  make 
war  on  the  English.  It  is  to  avenge  you,  my 
brothers.  When  the  English  insulted  us  they  in- 
sulted you  also.  I  know  that  they  have  taken 
away  your  arms  and  made  you  sign  a  paper, 
which  they  have  sent  away  to  their  country. 
Therefore  you  are  left  defenseless,  and  I  mean 
now  to  avenge  your  cause  and  my  own  together." 
So  their  possessions  were  spared,  and  they  were 
treated  as  friends  whom  the  fortune  of  war  had 
subjected  to  a  hated  foreign  yoke,  which  they 
would  willingly  embrace  the  first  favoring  oppor- 


MILITARY  RULE.  67 

tunity  to  cast  off.  A  people  so  regarded  by  the 
enemy  must  necessarily  be  distrusted  by  their 
own  government,  and  when  the  war  was  over  the 
condition  of  the  people  of  Detroit,  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  suspicious  rulers,  was  very  far  from 
being  enviable.  The  king's  proclamation  on  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  of  cession,  in  1763,  had 
established  military  control,  and  not  until  the 
dawn  of  the  American  Revolution,  when  concilia- 
tion of  Canada  seemed  to  promise  the  opportunity 
for  a  revival  of  the  former  antagonisms  between 
that  colony  and  those  which  were  now  becoming 
rebellious,  were  any  steps  taken  to  give  this  vast 
country  civil  government. 

Nominally  Detroit  was  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  governor-general  of  Canada,  but  its  great 
distance  from  the  capital,  and  its  complete  isola- 
tion from  other  settlements,  enabled  the  officer  in 
command  to  wield  at  pleasure  an  authority  which 
was  almost  autocratic.  Complaints  of  oppression 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  numerous,  but  in  this 
there  is  nothing  surprising.  The  only  authority 
competent  to  give  relief  was  the  military  com- 
mander of  the  province.  To  reach  him  would  be 
difficult,  and  if  reached,  it  might  be  expected  he 
would  listen  with  little  favor  to  complaints  of 
abuses  which  must  naturally  attend  the  adminis- 
tration of  a  system  of  which  he  was  himself  the 
head.  And  moreover,  the  natural  inclinations  of 
the  French  settlers,  who  were  docile  and  submis- 


68  MICHIGAN. 

eive,  would  lead  them  to  submit  silently  to  such 
wrongs  as  were  found  endurable,  rather  than  to 
make  complaint  of  the  officials  whose  authority 
over  them  was  in  no  manner  restricted  by  law, 
and  might  in  many  ways  be  abused  with  impu- 
nity. 

While  Bradstreet  remained  in  command  at  De- 
troit he  held  court  for  the  trial  of  offenders,  and 
banished  some  persons  on  the  charge  of  having 
given  assistance  to  Pontiac.  But  this  officer-had 
the  good  sense  to  perceive  that  regular  courts 
and  a  steady  administration  of  the  law  were  es- 
sential, and  he  urged  the  need  of  them  upon  the 
attention  of  government.  He  also  believed  that 
encouragement  should  be  given  to  settlers,  though 
it  does  not  appear  that  he  suggested  any  particu- 
lar measures  to  that  end.  But  at  home  his  views 
elicited  no  favorable  response.  The  government 
showed  little  inclination  to  limit  the  absolutism 
of  military  rule,  and  its  regulations  in  respect  to 
land,  while  in  the  main  just  in  so  far  as  they 
were  intended  for  the  protection  of  the  Indians, 
were  well  calculated  to  prevent  any  extension  of 
the  settlements. 

By  royal  proclamation  of  October  7,  1763,  war- 
rants of  survey  and  patents  of  any  lands  beyond 
the  heads  or  sources  of  any  of  the  rivers  falling 
into  the  Atlantic  from  the  west  or  northwest, 
or  of  any  lands  not  ceded  by  the  Indians,  were 
strictly  forbidden.  Private  persons  were  also  for- 


DEALINGS  IN  LAND.  69 

bidden  to  purchase  from  the  Indians,  and  grants 
were  only  to  be  solicited  from  them  by  the  gov- 
ernor or  commander-in-chief  of  the  proper  colony 
at  public  meeting  or  assembly  of  the  Indians  held 
for  the  purpose,  under  proper  regulations.  The 
proclamation  had  some  effect  in  restraining  the 
acquisition  of  land  for  settlement  and  cultivation, 
but  did  not  prevent  speculative  dealings  with  the 
Indians,  and  Governor-General  Gage,  fifteen  years 
later,  in  a  letter  to  Captain  Stevenson,  then  in 
command  at  Detroit,  found  it  necessary  to  deal 
very  summarily  with  the  local  land  transactions. 
Calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  none  but  the 
governors  of  provinces  had  had  authority  to  make 
grants,  and  that  no  purchases  from  the  Indians, 
without  the  king's  permission,  could  be  of  any 
validity,  he  proceeds  to  say :  — 

"  I  am  now  to  require  of  you  as  soon  as  this  is  re- 
ceived to  annul  and  make  void  by  public  act  every  con- 
cession made  by  Monsr  Bellestre  in  the  year  1760; 
every  grant  made  by  any  British  commander  without 
exception,  and  all  Indian  purchases  whatever,  or  Indian 
deeds  not  obtained  by  the  king's  permission  and  au- 
thority ;  and  that  you  do  not  suffer  any  settlements  to  be 
made  with  the  above  titles,  or  any  new  settlements  to 
be  begun  on  any  pretense  whatever,  and  that  you  pull 
down  as  fast  as  any  persons  shall  presume  to  build  up, 
and  that  you  do  seize  and  send  down  the  country  all 
persons  who  shall  be  endeavoring  to  settle  among  the 
savages." 


70  MICHIGAN. 

And  he  adds  with  good  reason  :  — 

"  I  imagine  the  Indians  will  be  set  up  to  talk  to  you 
on  these  subjects  ;  you  will  answer  them  that  the  king 
is  tender  of  their  property,  and  has  made  regulations 
to  prevent  their  being  cheated  and  defrauded  ;  that  his 
majesty  has  been  induced  to  make  these  rules  upon  the 
frequent  complaint  of  the  Indians  against  the  white  peo- 
ple, who  have  defrauded  them  of  their  lands  by  making 
a  few  of  them  drunk,  and  getting  them  in  that  condi- 
tion to  give  away  their  country,  to  the  great  disgust 
of  the  rest  of  the  nations ;  and  that  by  such  means  the 
Indians  have  represented  the  white  people  have  taken 
great  part  of  their  hunting  grounds.  This  has  hap- 
pened to  many  Indian  nations,  and  unless  you  stop  it  at 
the  beginning  at  the  Detroit,  the  same  thing  will  hap- 
pen there." 

If  the  government  orders  for  the  protection  of 
the  Indians  had  been  accompanied  by  regulations 
for  the  gift  or  sale  to  actual  settlers  of  the  lands 
to  which  the  Indian  title  had  been  extinguished, 
they  would  have  indicated  a  wisdom  on  the  part 
of  those  in  authority  of  which  there  had  as  yet 
been  little  evidence  in  the  management  of  colonial 
affairs.  But  up  to  this  time  America  had  been  to 
British  statesmen  simply  a  vast  domain  existing 
and  to  be  managed  for  the  benefit  of  Britain  her- 
self, and  the  question  of  its  management  pre- 
sented only  the  problem  in  what  manner  it  could 
best  be  made  to  contribute  to  the  wealth  and 
glory  of  the  imperial  island  which  owned  it 


BRITISH  POLICY  IN  THE  NORTHWEST.          71 

What  would  be  best  for  America  itself ;  what 
would  best  promote  the  welfare  and  prosperity 
of  the  people  who  had  found  homes  in  that  dis- 
tant country,  might  abstractly  be  a  question  of 
some  interest,  but  it  was  not  a  question  which 
British  statesmanship  of  the  day  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  take  into  consideration.  It  was  not  en- 
tirely certain  that  it  was  for  the  interest  of  Great 
Britain  that  there  should  be  a  further  extension 
of  settlements  in  America,  especially  in  that  part 
of  America  which  was  drained  by  the  St.  Law- 
rence. The  trade  in  furs  and  peltry  which,  even 
when  shared  with  France  had  been  largely  profit- 
able, was  now  wholly  in  English  hands,  and  if 
nothing  were  done  to  check  its  natural  supplies, 
there  was  reason  to  expect  it  would  now  be  more 
remunerative  than  ever.  But  to  open  the  coun- 
try for  settlement  was  to  destroy  or  drive  out 
the  animals  upon  whose  abundance  the  trade  de- 
pended, and  must  immediately  diminish  and  in 
the  end  destroy  this  profitable  industry.  It  might 
be  thought,  perhaps,  that  there  was  something 
unnatural  and  inhuman  in  preserving  for  wild 
animals  the  territory  by  the  settlement  of  which 
the  poorer  classes  of  Britain  might  greatly  bet- 
ter their  own  condition ;  but  the  preservation  of 
forests  for  game  was  in  the  line  of  British  tradi- 
tions and  practice,  and  so  long  as  the  nation  per- 
mitted a  considerable  portion  of  the  home  country 
to  be  kept  from  cultivation,  to  gratify  a  passion 


72  MICHIGAN. 

for  the  chase,  it  was  not  likely  to  let  sentimental 
considerations  interfere  with  the  preservation  for 
profitable  hunting  of  this  distant  wilderness.1 

Another  reason  also  had  its  influence  in  re- 
straining any  active  encouragement  of  settlements 
in  the  interior.  As  matters  now  were,  the  colo- 
nies were  dependent  upon  the  mother  country  for 
all  the  more  important  manufactures,  and  they 
furnished  a  large  and  profitable  market  for  which 
public  opinion  would  expect  from  the  govern- 
ment a  fostering  and  protecting  care.  But  as  the 
colonies  increased  in  population  and  wealth,  and 
pushed  farther  and  farther  into  the  wilderness, 
this  dependence  must  diminish.  Manufactures 
would  spring  up  to  supply  the  local  wants,  and 
the  people  would  be  taught  an  undesirable  reli- 
ance upon  themselves  and  their  own  resources. 
The  period  was  one  when  narrow  and  selfish  ideas 
controlled  the  policy  of  governments;  Detroit,  like 
other  frontier  settlements,  suffered  from  them, 
and  it  was  kept  in  the  condition  of  a  mere  trad- 
ing post,  stationary  in  population  and  importance, 
until  America,  in  the  struggle  for  political  liberty, 
had  burst  the  chains  which  fettered  industry  and 
enterprise. 

In  the  treaty  with  Pontiac,  that  "King  and 
Lord  of  all  the  Country  "  had  ceded  to  the  crown 

1  For  a  full  illustration  of  this  policy,  as  exhibited  by  the  action 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  in  relation  to  the  Oregon  question, 
see  Barrows's  Oregon,  American  Commonwealths  Series.  — ED. 


THE  INDIAN  AND  HIS  LAND.  73 

the  land  between  Detroit  and  Lake  St.  Clair. 
As  sovereign  he  doubtless  had  authority  to  make 
this  cession ;  but  he  made  grants  at  the  same  time 
to  individuals,  the  competency  of  which  would 
seem  more  questionable.  The  chieftain  of  an  In- 
dian tribe  was  not  proprietor  of  the  soil,  and 
there  was  no  known  custom  which  authorized  him 
to  convey  away  the  lands  of  the  tribe  to  persons 
not  members  of  or  adopted  into  it.  Moreover, 
•the  proclamation  of  the  British  king  had  forbid- 
den the  acquisition  of  the  Indian  title  by  private 
persons,  and  the  grants  of  Pontiac  were  therefore 
doubly  invalid.  But  nobody  cared  at  the  time  to 
offend  the  great  chief  by  questioning  his  convey- 
ances, and  as  the  new  inhabitants  who  now  came 
to  Detroit  came  for  temporary  purposes  only,  — 
mostly  as  traders,  —  ownership  of  land  for  those 
purposes  might  well  pass  unnoticed,  or  be  regarded 
with  indifference. 

No  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  existed  at  this 
time,  and  any  one  might  take  out  a  license  to  en- 
gage in  it.  But  with  an  autocratic  and  irresponsi- 
ble government  entire  freedom  of  trade  was  not 
to  be  expected  ;  something  of  arbitrary  intermed- 
dling was  to  be  looked  for,  and  no  doubt  the  love 
of  power,  or  the  passion  of  avarice,  or  the  desire 
to  enrich  favorites,  often  found  methods  of  grati- 
fication at  the  expense  of  regular  trade  and  in- 
dustry. 

The  absolute  and  irresponsible  character  of  the 


74  MICHIGAN. 

government  at  Detroit  is  made  specially  conspic- 
uous in  the  manner  in  which  the  military  com- 
mander made  use  of  the  judicial  power  with 
which  he  had  been  clothed.  Some  delegation  of 
that  power  was  perhaps  a  necessity,  and  those 
which  were  earliest  made  were  moderate  and  ju- 
dicious. At  the  beginning  of  1767  Captain  Turn- 
bull,  who  was  then  in  command,  issued  to  Philip 
Dejean  a  commission  as  justice,  but  with  such 
specification  of  powers  as  seemed  designed"  to 
make  his  court  one  of  arbitration  and  concilia- 
tion only.  But  this  authority  was  soon  enlarged 
by  another  commission,  in  which  Dejean  was  des- 
ignated "  second  judge,"  and  given  cognizance  of 
small  civil  causes.  As  magistrate,  however,  his 
legitimate  business  was  small ;  the  population  was 
devoted  to  the  church,  and  the  spiritual  adviser 
was  oftener  than  the  civil  judge  the  arbiter  of 
controversies.  But  Dejean,  who  appears  to  have 
been  a  favorite  of  successive  commanders,  and  was 
the  incumbent  of  other  important  offices,  did  not 
limit  his  authority  to  the  terms  of  his  commis- 
sions, but  unhesitatingly  magnified  his  office  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  situation  and  the 
Avishes  of  his  superiors.  In  three  instances,  at 
least,  persons  were  tried  before  him  on  capital 
charges  and  sentenced  to  execution,  and  one  of 
the  trials  was  attended  by  such  circumstances  as 
excited  great  indignation,  and  led  to  a  present 
ment  by  the  grand  jury  of  Montreal  district.  One 


ARBITRARY   GOVERNMENT.  75 

i 

Contencinau,  a  Frenchman,  and  Nancy,  a  female 
slave,  were  accused  of  larceny  and  attempted 
arson,  and  convicted  ;  the  woman,  it  was  s;dd, 
was  promised  pardon  on  condition  that  she  would 
act  as  executioner  of  the  man,  which  she  did,  and 
was  then  hanged  also.  These  facts  were  affirmed 
by  the  grand  jury,  who  called  for  the  punishment 
of  the  judge ;  but  Hamilton,  who  was  then  in 
command  at  Detroit,  and  was  not  likely  to  be 
disturbed  by  a  stretch  of  power  that  only  took 
the  life  of  a  friendless  negro,  interfered  for  the 
protection  of  the  judge,  and  appealed  to  the  gov- 
ernor-general on  his  behalf,  with  the  ever-ready 
plea  for  detected  official  rogues,  that  he  was  "  a 
man  who  has  made  enemies  by  doing  his  duty." 
But  Hamilton  went  farther,  and  took  upon  his 
own  shoulders  all  the  responsibility.  He  was  busy 
just  then  in  directing  Indian  hostilities  against 
the  western  settlements,  and  was  too  useful  a  man 
to  be  parted  with  or  to  be  put  on  defense  for  a 
comparatively  petty  atrocity,  and  the  crime  of 
the  judge,  who  now  came  to  be  known  as  "  Grand 
Judge  of  Detroit,"  was  suffered  to  pass  unpun- 
ished. 

General  Amherst  was  succeeded  as  governor- 
general  of  Canada  by  General  Murray,  and  he  in 
turn  by  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  who  was  in  office  at 
the  opening  of  the  American  Revolution.  The 
commandant  at  Detroit  was  lieutenant-governor 
under  him,  with  jurisdiction  over  all  the  north- 


76  MICHIGAN. 

western  posts.  Carleton  was  a  mnn  of  more  just 
and  humane  sentiments  than  commonly  prevailed 
in-  his  day,  but  he  seems  to  have  had  very  little 
knowledge  respecting  the  western  portion  of  his 
province,  and  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  it 
could  never  have  received  much  of  his  attention. 
When  examined  as  a  witness  before  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1774,  he  was  asked  whether  Detroit 
and  Michigan  were  under  his  government,  and 
he  replied,  "  Detroit  is  not  under  the  govern- 
ment, but  Michigan  is."  To  the  further  ques- 
tion, whether  he  looked  upon  Illinois  as  a  part  of 
old  Canada,  he  replied,  "  I  believe  so.  New  Or- 
leans was  under  the  government  of  Quebec,  but 
where  the  precise  district  ends  I  really  do  not 
know."  It  is  very  plain  that  the  governor-gen- 
eral was  having  very  little  supervision  of  his  sub- 
ordinates, either  at  Detroit  or  elsewhere  in  the 
Northwest. 

For  the  most  part  the  period  from  the  treaty 
with  Pontiac  to  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  was  without  noticeable  incident.  A 
garrison  maintained  in  idleness ;  a  governor  who 
was  at  once  law-maker,  judge,  and  military  com- 
mander, but  with  little  to  do  in  either  capacity ;  a 
people  without  political  and  almost  without  civil 
rights,  an  unprogressive  town  with  stationary  and 
limited  industries,  —  these  were  the  prominent 
features  at  Detroit,  and  such  they  remained  while 
British  occupation  continued.  The  assurance  in 


THE   QUEBEC  ACT.  77 

the  capitulation  of  Montreal  that  the  people  were 
to  be  treated  as  British  subjects  never  bore  satis- 
factory fruit.  If  this  assurance  meant  anything, 
it  must  have  meant  that  the  people  should  have 
conceded  to  them  the  fundamental  rights  belong- 
ing to  native  Britons :  the  right  of  security  against 
arbitrary  arrest  and  imprisonment ;  the  right  of 
trial  by  their  peers  ;  the  right  to  be  judged  by  set- 
tled and  definite  laws.  Against  anything  less 
than  this  Britons  would  have  rebelled ;  but  with 
the  people  of  Canada  "  it  fell  out  that  when  they 
hoped  to  enjoy  legality  under  peaceful  sway,  they 
saw  their  tribunals  abolished,  their  judges  re- 
pelled, and  the  whole  social  organization  upset, 
to  make  room  for  the  most  insupportable  of  all 
tyranny,  that  of  courts -martial/'  But  despotic 
sentiments  ruled  in  England;  and  even  the  lib- 
erals of  the  day  were  little  inclined  to  concede  to 
Frenchmen,  who  were  also  Catholics,  equality  of 
rights  with  Protestant  Englishmen.  So  the  state 
of  military  despotism  continued  until  the  mut- 
terings  of  discontent  in  the  English  colonies,  and 
the  occasional  instances  of  determined  resistance 
to  royal  authority,  warned  the  government  that 
danger  was  impending.  Then  the  Quebec  Act 
was  adopted,  as  a  measure  at  once  firm  and  con- 
ciliatory, and  which  was  thought  calculated,  while 
attaching  the  people  of  Canada  to  the  crown  by 
removing  the  causes  of  just  complaint,  to  give 
warning  to  the  other  colonies  that  resistance  to 
authority  would  meet  with  stern  repression. 


78  MICHIGAN. 

The  isolated  post  of  Michilimackinac,  now  com- 
ing to  be  known  as  Mackinaw,  acquired  excep- 
tional temporary  importance  through  suspicions 
of  a  treasonable  scheme  of  Major  Rogers,  who 
had  been  sent  there  as  commandant  in  1765.  He 
was  charged  with  scheming  to  seduce  the  Indians 
from  the  English  to  the  Spanish  interest,  and  to 
hand  the  post  over  to  the  New  Orleans  authori- 
ties. Rogers  was  arrested  and  sent  to  Montreal 
for  trial,  but  whether  he  was  actually  tried  is  not 
known.  He  was  soon  at  liberty,  but  did  not  re- 
turn to  Michigan,  and  his  schemes,  whatever  they 
were,  came  to  nothing.  His  subsequent  career 
was  not  honorable,  and  was  well  calculated  to 
lend  plausibility  to  the  accusations  of  treasonable 
purposes  which  had  been  made  against  him. 

An  attempt  was  made  about  this  time,  in  which 
Alexander  Henry  participated,  to  explore  and 
work  the  copper  mines  of  Lake  Superior,  of  whose 
exceeding  richness  there  had  been  rumors  ever 
since  the  upper  lakes  had  been  first  visited.  But 
the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  such  an  undertak- 
ing ;  the  copper  mines,  which  ages  ago  had  been 
worked  by  the  people  who  ante-dated  the  Indians 
in  America,  and  which  since  then  had  remained 
in  neglect  and  forgetfulness,  were  only  to  be 
opened  again  when  improved  methods  of  trans- 
portation should  make  their  working  profitable. 
Their  day  would  come  when  the  whistle  of  the 
steamboat  should  wake  the  echoes  along  the  rock- 
bound  coast  of  Superior,  but  not  before. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    NORTHWEST    CONQUERED    FOR    THE 
AMERICAN    UNION. 

WHEN  France  surrendered  Canada  to  Great 
Britain  the  population  of  the  English  colonies  in 
America  exceeded  that  of  several  countries  in 
Europe  which  in  former  times  had  won  lasting 
renown  in  defending  their  liberties  and  independ- 
ence against  the  assaults  of  more  powerful  neigh- 
bors. Two  millions  of  people  accustomed  to  a 
share  of  liberty  which  was  altogether  uncommon 
at  that  period,  and  schooled  by  hard  necessity  to 
independence  of  action  and  the  use  of  arms,  must 
at  any  time  and  in  any  part  of  the  world  be 
a  formidable  power,  and  entitled,  in  all  matters 
which  concerned  their  relations  to  government, 
to  a  respectful  hearing.  This  must  be  especially 
the  case  when  their  numbers  are  increasing  with 
great  rapidity,  and  when  their  distance  from  the 
seat  of  authority  is  so  considerable  that  their  gov- 
ernment as  a  discontented  people  must  necessarily 
be  exceedingly  difficult  and  enormously  expensive. 
But  these  obvious  truths  were  either  overlooked 
or  haughtily  disregarded,  and  a  course  of  treat- 


80  MICHIGAN. 

ment  for  the  American  colonies  at  once  unjust  in 
its  essentials  and  offensive  in  its  methods  was 
deliberately  entered  upon.  The  Stamp  Act  as  a 
measure  of  internal  taxation,  the  attempt  to  collect 
a  revenue  from  importations  of  tea,  the  closing  of 
the  port  of  Boston,  the  abrogation  of  the  charter 
of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  proposal  to  send 
persons  charged  with  crimes  in  America  to  Great 
Britain  for  trial  in  certain  cases,  and  to  quarter 
troops  upon  the  colonists,  were  each  and  all  indi- 
cations of  settled  despotic  purpose,  and  resistance 
to  them  went  on  from  step  to  step,  until  dele- 
gates were  chosen  to  a  Continental  Congress, 
which,  when  other  measures  failed  to  secure  re- 
dress, was  to  declare  the  colonies  free  and  inde- 
pendent states. 

But  while  the  British  colonies  were  preparing, 
with  an  earnestness  that  admitted  of  no  doubt 
or  question,  for  an  appeal  to  arms,  Canada  neither 
participated  in  the  excitement  nor  cared  for  the 
causes  of  it.  The  Canadians  shared  in  common 
with  the  people  of  the  other  colonies  in  no  tradi- 
tions of  liberty;  they  knew  nothing  of  Magna 
Charta  or  the  Bill  of  Rights,  and  they  had  justly 
been  praised  by  their  last  French  governor-general 
for  their  docility  and  "  perfect  submissiveness." 
These  were  not  the  men  to  resist  government  be- 
cause denied  the  right  of  self-taxation ;  king  and 
church  had  their  implicit  obedience;  and  having 
little  in  common  with  the  sentiments  from  which 


MATERIALS  FOR  A  STATE.  81 

sprang  the  American  Revolution,  and  quite  as 
little  with  the  men  who  led  it,  they  were  not  likely 
to  see  attractions  in  martyrdom  for  political  lib- 
erty. The  coureurs  de  bois  and  voyageurs  about 
Detroit,  French  in  their  gayety  and  buoyancy  of 
spirits,  and  Indian  in  their  unthrift,  their  grossness 
of  life,  and  their  alternations  of  excess  and  priva- 
tion ;  the  little  farmers  in  their  whitewashed  and 
vineclad  cottages,  living  a  life  of  easy  and  thought- 
less cheerfulness  upon  what  they  produced,  were 
none  of  them  likely  to  concern  themselves  with 
theories  of  political  equality,  or  with  questions  of 
popular  enfranchisement.  A  certain  lot  in  the 
order  of  Providence  had  fallen  to  them,  which 
they  found  abundant  means  of  making  a  cheerful 
if  not  a  happy  one.  The  traders  indeed  were  not 
now  exclusively  French,  as  they  liad  been  a  few 
years  before  ;  a  few  Irishmen  and  Englishmen  had 
come  in,  and  more  Scotchmen  ;  but  these  seem  in 
coming  into  the  wilderness  to  have  found  the 
habits  and  methods  of  those  who  bad  preceded 
them  congenial,  and  they  soon  displayed  in  their 
own  ways  the  characteristics  of  their  French 
neighbors.  They  had  their  seasons  of  devotion  to 
business,  and  their  seasons  of  social  hilarity  and 
profuse  expenditure  in  the  enjoyments  of  the 
table  ;  their  hospitality  was  unbounded,  and  they 
delighted  equally  in  the  rough  athletic  sports  of 
the  day  and  in  the  dance  and  other  enjoyments 
of  social  life.  Nothing  could  be  more  agreeable 


82  MICHIGAN. 

than  the  picture  handed  down  to  us  of  the  best 
society  of  the  day,  and  nothing  as  we  look  back 
upon  it  would  be  impressed  more  distinctly  upon 
the  mind  than  that  these  agreeable  and  social 
people  were  not  the  men  to  evolve  from  the  in- 
tellectual warfare  of  troublous  times  the  foun- 
dation principles  upon  which  may  be  builded  great 
states. 

But  the  people  of  Canada  had  grievances  "pe- 
culiar to  themselves,  which  they  felt  at  all  times, 
and  in  which  people  of  both  sexes  and  all  condi- 
tions participated.  One  of  these  concerned  their 
church  ;  they  had  been  promised  the  unrestricted 
enjoyment  of  their  religion,  but  the  church  com- 
plained that  its  property  rights  had  not  always 
been  respected,  and  this,  while  not  a  breach  of 
the  letter  of  the  promise,  was  felt  to  be  in  disre- 
gard of  its  spirit.  But  a  second  and  more  palpa- 
ble grievance  was  that  of  being  deprived  of  their 
ancient  laws.  If  the  complaints  they  made  of 
these  grievances  were  more  subdued  in  tone  and 
deferential  than  the  complaints  by  the  English  col- 
onies of  attempted  imperial  taxation,  they  were 
not  the  less  sincere  or  persistent,  and  they  were 
more  universally  concurred  in  by  the  people. 

Accordingly,  we  find  measures  for  the  concilia- 
tion of  Canada  proceeding  hand  in  hand  with 
measures  for  the  punishment  of  the  other  colonies. 
The  act  for  the  regulation  of  the  affairs  of  the 
province  of  Quebec  was  a  measure  of  conciliation 


OPERATION   OF  THE    QUEBEC  ACT.  83 

from  which  very  much  was  anticipated.  The  act 
sanctioned  in  Canada  the  free  exercise  of  the 
religion  of  Rome,  and  confirmed  to  the  clergy 
their  accustomed  dues  and  rights,  including  tithes 
established  by  the  edict  of  Louis  XIV.  In  all 
civil  matters  it  restored  to  the  people  the  benefit 
of  their  ancient  laws,  it  relieved  them  from  the 
operation  of  the  English  test  acts,  and  it  gave  to 
the  colony  a  governing  council  with  powers  of 
legislation  subject  to  the  king's  negative.  The 
selection  of  the  members  was  to  be  made  by 
the  king,  but  a  part  of  the  number  were  to  be 
Catholics,  and  this  was  a  step  in  the  direction  of 
political  liberty  which  was  peculiarly  agreeable  to 
the  people  because  of  its  recognition  of  their 
church,  —  a  church  not  tolerated  in  England,  and 
abhorred  in  the  other  colonies.  The  act  extended 
the  boundaries  of  the  province  of  Quebec  so  as  to 
include  within  it  all  the  British  possessions  from 
the  Ohio  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Territory. 

The  Quebec  Act  had  for  one  purpose  to  prevent 
the  disloyalty  of  the  other  colonies  from  extend- 
ing to  Canada  ;  and  the  bigoted  king,  who  by  it 
made  concessions  to  the  Catholics  which  he  would 
peril  his  crown  rather  than  make  in  England  and 
Ireland,  declared  when  he  signed  it  that  it  was 
founded  on  the  plainest  principles  of  justice  and 
humanity,  and  that  he  anticipated  from  it  the 
best  effects  in  calming  the  inquietudes  and  pro- 
moting the  well-being  of  his  Canadian  subjects. 


84  MICHIGAN. 

Mr.  Fox  would  have  gone  farther,  and  given  the 
people  an  elective  chamber.  u  Nobody  has  said 
that  the  Romish  belief  naturally  disqualifies  a 
man  from  becoming  politically  enfranchised,  and 
I  for  one  will  never  listen  to  such  an  assertion. 
No  man  intimately  acquainted  with  the  Catholic 
mind  will  say  that  there  is  anything  in  it  opposed 
to  the  principles  of  political  freedom.  Its  aspi- 
rations, though  expressed  by  rulers  in  Catht>lic 
countries,  exist  in  the  breasts  of  the  people,  Cath- 
olic and  Protestant  alike."  But  this  just  and 
manly  sentiment  of  the  great  statesman  was  in 
advance  of  his  day.  London  made  an  imposing 
protest  against  the  approval  of  the  act  by  the 
king,  and  the  English  colonies  included  it  in  the 
list  of  their  grievances  against  the  British  crown. 
Much  of  their  complaint  was  born  of  the  bigotry 
of  the  time,  and  may  be  passed  now  without 
remark.  But  some  grounds  of  objection  to  the 
bill  were  substantial  and  permanent.  It  gave  to 
the  people  no  security  against  arbitrary  arrests 
nnd  imprisonments,  and  the  semblance  of  a  share 
in  the  enactment  of  law  was  Avithout  substantial 
value.  Without  the  habeas  corpus  and  without  a 
responsible  participation  in  legislation,  the  people 
must  of  necessity  be  under  a  political  despotism, 
tempered  only  by  such  humane  characteristics  and 
such  sense  of  justice  and  right  as  might  be  in  the 
nature  of  their  rulers  for  the  time  being.  But 
Thurlowsaid:  "The  Quebec  constitution  is  the 


IMPORTANCE  OF  DETROIT.  85 

only  proper  constitution  for  colonies  ;  it  ought  to 
have  been  given  to  them  all  when  first  planted, 
and  it  is  what  all  ought  now  to  be  reduced  to." 
Some  of  the  colonies  had  objections  to  the  Quebec 
Act  which  were  peculiar  to  themselves.  In  the 
extension  of  the  boundaries  of  the  province  to 
include  the  territory  south  of  the  lakes  and  north 
of  the  Ohio,  the  claims  of  Massachusetts,  Virginia, 
New  York,  and  Connecticut,  under  their  charters, 
were  ignored,  and  ground  for  controversy  and  con- 
tention was  thus  laid  which  might  have  become 
serious  had  not  the  course  of  military  events  soon 
deprived  it  of  practical  importance. 

The  government  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  was  represented  at  Detroit  by  Colo- 
nel Henry  Hamilton,  first  appointed  by  Governor- 
General  Carleton  as  his  lieutenant;  a  man  of 
capacity  and  energy,  and  thoroughly  loyal  to  the 
service  of  his  king.  The  post,  next  to  Quebec, 
was  the  most  important  in  the  newly  created 
province :  it  commanded  all  the  upper  lakes  ;  all 
the  important  points  in  the  country  from  which 
have  since  been  formed  the  states  o.f  Ohio,  In- 
diana, and  Illinois  were  easily  accessible  from  it 
by  water  highways  ;  it  was  the  place  of  largest 
habitual  concentration  of  Indians,  and  presented 
means  for  communication  and  negotiation  with 
the  savages  not  equaled  by  any  point  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Americans.  If  the  British  were  to 
employ  the  savages  in  the  war,  Detroit  was  the 


86  MICHIGAN. 

natural  and  most  convenient  point  for  enlisting 
them  in  the  service,  distributing  presents  among 
them,  and  furnishing  them  with  supplies ;  if  they 
•\vere  not  to  be  employed,  their  very  neutrality 
would  constitute  a  protection  to  the  British  au- 
thority over  the  Northwest ;  for  the  Americans 
must  either  respect  the  neutrality  and  put  a  stop 
to  the  intrusion  of  settlers  upon  Indian  lands,  or 
the  Indians  on  their  own  account  might  be  ex- 
pected to  wage  war  upon  them. 

In  all  the  American  wars  between  the  French 
and  the  English,  the  Indians  had  been  enlisted  on 
both  sides,  but  much  the  more  largely  on  the  side 
of  France.  To  Canada  the  aid  of  the  Indians 
had  always  been  essential.  The  population  of  the 
colony  was  insignificant  as  compared  with  that  of 
the  colonies  in  arms  against  her,  and  if  compelled 
to  rely  exclusively  upon  her  own  resources,  Can- 
ada might  have  been  overwhelmed  by  sheer  force 
of  numbers.  The  dependence  upon  Indian  assist- 
ance was,  therefore,  considerable,  and  it  had  been 
effective  in  enabling  the  colony  to  maintain  its 
relative  importance  until  the  time  of  final  strug- 
gle. On  the  side  of  the  English  the  Iroquois  Con- 
federacy had  generally  been  found  giving  valuable 
assistance,  but  though,  after  the  habitual  barbar- 
ity of  their  race,  the  Six  Nations  destroyed,  with 
out  distinction,  men,  women,  and  children,  the  col- 
onial authorities  had  never  expressly  enlisted  them 
for  such  indiscriminate  slaughter,  and  would  will- 


THE  INDIANS  IN  THE  REVOLUTIONARY    WAR.     87 

ingly,  had  it  been  possible,  have  restrained  their 
belligerent  acts  within  the  limits  admitted  by  the 
rules  of  civilized  warfare.  Nor  was  Sir  Guy  Carle- 
ton  any  more  disposed  to  make  use  of  Indian  allies 
for  barbarous  work,  and  he  declined  to  sanction 
their  being  sent  beyond  the  boundaries  of  his 
province  to  wage  war  without  restraint  upon  the 
defenseless  American  settlements. 

But  the  Americans  had  not  waited  for  the  In- 
dians to  be  let  loose  upon  them  by  their  enemies ; 
bad  men  among  them,  by  the  most  wanton  and 
cruel  putrages,  had  Brought  upon  the  West  a  fury 
of  Indian  hostility,  which  was  not  extinguished 
until  a  great  number  of  lives  had  been  taken  and 
many  settlements  devastated.  In  the  spring  of 
1774  a  party  of  land-jobbers  exploring  the  upper 
Ohio  made  outcry  that  Indians  had  stolen  from 
them  a  number  of  horses.  It  was  never  made 
certain  that  the  charge  was  true  ;  many  people 
believed  it  a  mere  pretense  for  the  barbarities 
which  followed.  War  upon  the  Indians  was  im- 
mediately begun,  with  determination  to  slaughter 
without  distinction  all  who  should  fall  into  their 
hands.  Two  were  met  and  killed  the  same  day. 
A  larger  number  who  were  encamped  a  few  miles 
away  were  approached  in  pretended  friendship, 
and,  as  treacherously  as  ever  a  savage  took  life, 
were  wantonly  put  to  death.  Other  like  outrages 
followed  in  quick  succession.  Among  the  mur- 
dered Indians  were  all  the  members  of  the  family 


88  MICHIGAN. 

of  Logan,  son  of  a  Cayuga  sachem,  who  had  lived 
at  Canestoga,  and  had  been  the  friend  and  patron 
of  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  Moravian  missionary. 
Logan  himself  had  become  a  chief  in  the  Sha- 
wanese  country,  and  wherever  he  was  known  his 
pacific  disposition  and  his  friendship  for  the  white 
people  were  also  known  and  recognized.  But  he 
would  have  been  neither  Indian  nor  human  if  this 
wanton  destruction  of  his  family  had  not  stifred 
his  passions  to  their  lowest  depths,  and  made  him 
thirst  for  vengeance.  With  others  who  had  in 
like  manner  been  wronged  Tie  entered  upon  a 
war  of  extermination,  and  the  border  settlements 
were  soon  ablaze  with  their  murderous  fires.  Dun- 
more,  the  royal  governor  of  Virginia,  led  an  army 
against  the  Indians,  and  after  a  campaign,  in 
which  little  glory  was  won,  a  nominal  peace  was 
made,  but  not  till  Logan  could  say,  "  I  have  fully 
glutted  my  vengeance."  It  was  not  possible  tm~ 
der  the  circumstances  that  the  temper  of  the  In- 
dians should  be  pacific,  or  that  the  nominal  peace 
should  restore  friendship.  "  Good  laws  vigorously 
enforced,"  said  Sir  William  Johnson,  "  are  the 
best  guaranty  against  Indian  resentments  ; "  a  sen- 
timent the  truth  of  which  is  as  obvious  as  its 
humanity.  The  border  maxim  has  always  been 
different ;  it  is  that  when  the  Indian  has  been 
wronged,  the  proper  guaranty  against  his  resent- 
ments is  the  rifle  ball. 

Neither  party  is  blameless  for  bringing  Indians 


THE  INDIANS  IN   THE  REVOLUTIONARY   WAR.     89 

into  the  field  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  The 
British  were  first  in  enlisting  them ;  but  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  by  action  of  nearly  the  same 
date,  resolved  to  take  into  its  service  two  thou- 
sand Indians,  and  to  pay  them  a  reward  of  one 
hundred  dollars  for  every  commissioned  officer, 
and  thirty  dollars  for  every  private  soldier  taken 
prisoner  by  them.  This  arrangement  was  as  hu- 
mane as  any  that  could  have  been  proposed  ;  but 
General  Schuyler,  who  was  desired  to  carry  the 
resolution  into  effect,  made  strong  representations 
against  it  as  both  impracticable  and  useless,  and 
he  prophesied  that  the  aid  of  the  Indians,  if  en- 
listed, would  be  uncertain  and  fitful,  and  the 
value  bear  no  proportion  to  the  cost.  In  this,  as 
the  event  proved,  he  was  entirely  correct.  The 
Indians  might,  in  their  savage  way,  be  of  service 
in  carrying  an  ^aggressive  war  into  an  enemy's 
country  and  laying  waste  his  settlements  ;  but 
such  was  not  the  character  of  the  war  in  which 
the  Americans  were  engaged.  They  stood  upon 
the  defensive,  endeavoring  to  turn  back  the  tide 
of  war  from  their  own  borders,  and  the  lawless 
habits  of  the  Indians  and  their  peculiar  methods 
of  warfare  would  not  only  make  their  aid  embar- 
rassing and  wastefully  destructive  of  resources, 
but  their  very  presence  would  be  a  constant 
source  of  alarm  and  disquietude  to  the  district 
which  should  be  the  scene  of  operations.  While, 
therefore,  the  British  might  profit  by  their  assists 


90  MICHIGAN. 

ance,  through  such  harassing  inroads  upon  the 
American  settlements  as  would  distract  the  atten- 
tion and  scatter  the  forces  of  the  military,  until 
the  incessant  and  pervading  alarm  of  the  people 
and  destruction  of  their  resources  might  possi- 
bly incline  them  at  last  to  accept  peace  at  the 
cost  of  submission,  the  Americans,  on  the  other 
hand,  could  look  for  no  corresponding  advantages. 
Nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  them  through  rt+ids 
upon  the  French  Canadian  settlements ;  and  In- 
dian allies  who  submitted  to  discipline  with  re- 
luctance, and  were  impatient  of  the  necessary 
restraints  of  civilized  warfare,  were  not  a  promis- 
ing assistance  in  encountering  in  the  open  field 
the  disciplined  armies  of  England.  Neither  were 
rewards  which  were  limited  to  prisoners  alone 
likely  to  be  attractive  to  them.  It  was  easier  to 
take  scalps  than  prisoners,  and  it  was  also  more 
in  accord  with  their  usages  and  savage  instincts. 
On  the  part  of  the  Americans,  therefore,  the  value 
of  Indian  assistance  would  practically  be  limited 
to  such  service  as  they  might  render  against  those 
of  their  own  race  taking  part  with  the  British. 

At  Detroit  Governor  Hamilton  saw,  or  thought 
he  saw,  how  he  could  make  Indian  assistance  to 
the  royal  cause  fearfully  effective.  He  was  so  de- 
cided and  earnest  a  partisan  that  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  charge  or  even  to  suspect  that  he  favored 
useless  cruelty;  but  there  is  abundant  evidence 
that  he  had  no  scruples  in  enlisting  Indians  to 


THE  PRICE   OF  INDIAN  ALLIANCE.  91 

fight  after  their  own  methods,  or  in  paying  them 
for  such  effective  work  as  they  might  accomplish. 
The  effective  work  which  was  desired  from  them 
was  such  as  would  restore  the  British  authority 
over  the  western  portions  of  Virginia,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  New  York ;  and  this  could  only  be 
accomplished  by  the  destruction  of  the  western 
settlements,  and  especially  those  in  the  valley  of 
the  Ohio.  But  scalps  were  the  rewards  and  the 
trophies  of  such  destruction ;  and  for  these,  if  their 
effective  aid  was  to  be  had,  the  Indians  must 
be  paid.  Hamilton  therefore  offered  rewards  for 
scalps,  and  he  was  not  ashamed  to  say,  in  writing 
on  one  occasion  to  his  superior,  "  Last  night  the 
savages  were  assembled,  when  I  sang  the  war 
song,  and  was  followed  by  Captain  Lernoult  and 
several  officers." 

Captain  De  Peyster  was  then  in  command  at 
Mackinaw,  M.  de  Rocheblave  at  Kaskaskia,  and 
Mr.  Abbot  at  Vincennes.  Captain  Langdale,  at 
Green  Bay,  who  was  extensively  known  among 
the  Indians,  was  commissioned  early  in  1776  to 
raise  among  them  a  force  for  the  British  service, 
and  he  proceeded  promptly  in  the  execution  of 
his  commission.  A  considerable  force  was  raised, 
which  was  sent  forward  to  Montreal  under  orders 
from  De  Peyster  which  charged  them  with  the 
duty  of  "  annoying  the  rebels  wherever  you  meet 
with  them."  Several  persons  who  had  lived 
among  the  Indians  were  also  employed  by  Ham- 


92  MICHIGAN. 

ilton  to  instigate  them  to  hostilities,  and  among 
them  were  the  brothers  Simon,  George,  and  James 
Girty,  who  were  regularly  paid  as  British  agents 
at  Detroit,  and  who  personally  took  part  in  raids 
upon  the  settlements.  The  monstrous  barbarities 
of  some  of  these  men  almost  stagger  belief,  and 
force  upon  us  the  unwelcome  truth  that  in  civil- 
ized society,  and  within  the  sound  of  Christian 
bells,  there  may  be  bred  and  reared  savagesr  as 
fiendish  in  their  cruelty  as  any  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Hamilton,  in  his  dispatches  to  his  supe- 
riors, gave  them  to  understand  that  he  should 
send  out  parties  of  Indians  "  to  fall  .on  the  scat- 
tered settlers  on  the  Ohio  and  its  branches,"  and 
he  selected  to  lead  these  raids  fit  instruments  who 
would  be  troubled  by  no  compunctions  and  no 
emotions  of  pity  in  making  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion complete. 

The  year  1777  was  distinguished  by  much  mili- 
tary activity,  of  which  Governor  Hamilton  was 
the  instigation  and  the  head.  In  the  spring  sev- 
eral Kentucky  settlements  were  attacked  in  suc- 
cession by  the  Indians,  but  in  each  case  effective 
resistance  was  made,  and  few  scalps  were  brought 
back  for  the  governor's  bounty.  In  July  Hamil- 
ton reported  that  he  had  sent  out  fifteen  parties 
to  raid  upon  the  border  settlements,  but  they 
achieved  no  considerable  success,  and  only  in- 
tensified among  the  settlers  a  hatred  of  the  gov- 
ernment which  made  use  for  its  purposes  of  this 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK.          93 

species  of  warfare.  In  September  Fort  Henry, 
at  Wheeling,  was  besieged  by  a  considerable  foive 
of  the  governor's  Indians,  but  the  defense  was 
skillful,  heroic,  and  successful.  In  the  succeed- 
ing year  raids  were  again  made  upon  the  Ken- 
tucky settlements,  and  Boonesborough  was  for  a 
time  besieged,  but  again  the  besieging  party  was 
foiled.  So  far  the  bounty  money  of  the  govern- 
ment had  produced  no  important  results.  The 
settlers  retaliated  as  they  found  opportunity,  and 
in  the  destruction  of  Indian  villages  and  means 
of  subsistence  the  savages  had  measure  for  meas- 
ure meted  out  to  them  for  their  own  barbarities. 

But  this  indecisive  warfare,  the  horrors  of  which 
were  experienced  by  only  one  of  the  principal  bel- 
ligerents, had  results  which  its  instigators  little 
anticipated,  and  was  the  inspiring  cause  and  the 
prelude  to  movements  which  were  pregnant  with 
mighty  consequences.  The  actors  were  few,  and 
the  scene  of  conflict  so  far  in  the  interior  that 
what  was  done  passed  at  the  time  almost  without 
observation ;  but  the  future  of  a  vast  and  fertile 
country  from  which  great  states  were  to  be  carved 
depended  upon  what  these  few  actors*  in  heroic 
but  unpretending  way,  were  to  accomplish. 

George  Rogers  Clark  was  at  this  time  the 
most  conspicuous  figure  in  the  Kentucky  settle- 
ments. He  was  a  Virginian  from  the  mountain 
region  ;  like  Washington  he  was  a  land  surveyor; 
and  in  1775  and  again  in  1776  he  had  visited  the 


94  MICHIGAN. 

Kentucky  settlements,  and  made  himself  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  their  condition.  He  found 
them  without  civil  government,  the  jurisdiction 
claimed  by  both  Virginia  and  North  Carolina ; 
but  neither  State  was  doing  anything  to  justify 
the  claim  by  giving  to  the  people  the  benefits  of 
protection  and  government.  The  settlers  them- 
selves claimed  to  be  Virginians,  and  in  mass 
meeting  in  June,  1776,  they  chose  Clark  and 
Gabriel  Jones  to  represent  them  in  the  Virginia 
Assembly.  But  this  was  without  authority  of  law, 
and  Clark  disclaimed  the  election,  though  he  con- 
sented to  go  as  agent,  and  did  his  best  to  enlist 
the  interest  and  aid  of  the  State  in  the  defense 
of  his  constituents.  He  had  the  mortification  of 
finding  that  his  solicitations  bore  no  fruit,  and 
turning  his  back  upon  the  authorities  with  the 
pregnant  remark  that  "a  country  not  worth  de- 
fending was  not  worth  claiming,"  he  determined 
to  return  to  Kentucky  and  initiate  a  movement 
for  the  formation  of  an  independent  state.  The 
council  of  state  were  made  uneasy  by  this  dec- 
laration ;  they  knew  the  hardy  mountain  sur- 
veyor meant  what  he  said  and  could  accomplish 
what  he  determined ;  and  yielding  to  his  resolute 
manner  what  they  had  denied  to  his  solicitations, 
they  reversed  their  decision,  and  forwarded  to  the 
order  of  Clark  a  considerable  supply  of  gunpowder 
for  Kentucky  use. 

But  Clark  saw  very  clearly  that  all  warfare  in 


MOVEMENT  AGAINST  K ASK ASK 1 A.  95 

the  West  must  be  desultory  and  inconsequential 
unless  the  British  themselves  could  be  made  to 
feel  the  consequences,  and  that  this  could  only 
be  done  by  the  reduction  of  the  British  posts. 
Accordingly,  in  1777,  he  sent  spies  to  reconnoitre 
and  report  upon  their  condition,  and  on  their 
return  he  submitted  to  Patrick  Henry,  then  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia,  a  plan  for  the  capture  of  Kas- 
kaskia  and  Vincennes.  The  plan  was  approved, 
the  necessary  legislation  was  obtained  for  the 
attempt,  and  on  January  18,  1778,  the  resolute 
leader  left  Williamsburgh  to  put  it  in  execution. 
"  Elevated,"  he  says,  "  with  thoughts  of  the  great 
service  we  should  do  our  country,  .  .  .  the  more  I 
reflected  on  my  weakness  the  more  I  was  pleased 
with  the  enterprise."  His  modesty  was  great,  but, 
with  courage  inspired  by  the  occasion,  he  perceived 
clearly  that  the  opportunity  was  offered  for  an 
achievement  at  once  glorious  for  himself  and  of 
lasting  benefit  to  his  country.  With  vast  difficulty 
and  under  numerous  discouragements  he  collected 
a  force  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  with  which  on 
the  30th  of  June  he  started  across  the  country 
for  Kaskaskia.  The  intervening  ground  was  low 
and  flat,  and  covered  by  luxuriant  vegetation  ;  the 
guide  was  unfamiliar  with  the  way,  and  at  one 
time  lost  it ;  and  two  days  before  the  point  of 
destination  was  reached  the  provisions  were  ex- 
hausted. Nevertheless  the  intrepid  leader  of  de- 
termined men  pushed  on,  and  on  the  evening  of 


96  MICHIGAN. 

July  4th,  a  day  famous  in  American  annals  for 
many  great  events,  he  surrounded  and  occupied 
the  town,  and  broke  into  the  fort  with  such  celer- 
ity that  the  astonished  commander  had  no  time 
for  any  resistance.  Assuring  the  inhabitants  of 
the  town  of  the  friendship  and  protection  of  the 
Americans,  he  quieted  their  fears,  which  at  first 
had  been  greatly  excited,  and  they  promptly  and 
cheerfully  tendered  their  allegiance  to  the  Affter- 
ican  cause.  The  French  settlers  of  Cahokia,  on 
learning  of  the  capture,  made  haste  to  follow  the 
example  of  their  brethren  at  Kaskaskia,  and  an 
Indian  force  which  had  been  collected  in  the  vi- 
cinity dispersed  in  fear  of  an  attack.  Vincennes 
followed  suit,  and  Clark,  with  a  success  beyond 
expectation  or  reasonable  hope,  was  put  in  posses- 
sion of  these  several  settlements  without  the  loss 
of  a  man. 

The  whole  force  with  which  this  remarkable 
achievement  had  been  accomplished  consisted  of 
but  a  hundred  and  eighty  men ;  and  it  was  so  in- 
significant in  numbers  and  so  far  from  support 
that  Clark  deemed  it  necessary  to  magnify  his 
strength  by  circulating  a  report  that  a  large  force 
at  the  Falls  was  at  his  service.  This  deception 
was  the  more  imperative  since  a  portion  of  his 
men,  thinking  their  task  now  fully  accomplished, 
insisted  upon  returning  to  their  homes.  Only 
about  a  hundred  remained  with  him,  but  the 
French  settlers  proved  true  friends,  and  with  their 


CAPTURE  OF  VINCENNES.  97 

assistance  he  set  about  establishing  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  Indians. 

It  was  startling  news  which  was  brought  to 
Detroit,  that  the  settlers  of  Kentucky,  instead  of 
being  driven  back  beyond  the  mountains,  as  was 
expected,  had  taken  the  aggressive,  and  captured 
and  were  then  holding  the  posts  in  the  Illinois. 
It  was  not  pleasant  intelligence  for  Governor 
Hamilton  to  communicate  to  his  superiors ;  and 
he  took  prompt  steps  to  retrieve  the  disaster. 
On  December  17th,  with  a  considerable  force  of 
British  and  Indians,  he  presented  himself  before 
Vincennes  and  demanded  its  surrender.  Captain 
Helm  was  in  charge  with  but  a  single  man ;  for 
Clark  had  not  been  able  to  spare  men  for  a  gar- 
rison. Helm  made  a  show  of  resistance,  and 
Hamilton,  who  was  ignorant  of  the  condition  of 
affairs,  and  desired  to  avoid  bloodshed,  offered 
him  the  honors  of  war.  The  terms  of  surrender 
were  accepted,  and  the  valorous  captain,  with 
colors  flying,  marched  his  one  man  out,  not  less 
to  the  surprise  than  to  the  mortification  of  his 
captor. 

The  vigor  displayed  in  capturing  Vincennes 
bore  no  further  fruit.  The  Indians  soon  dis- 
persed, or  were  sent  off  by  Hamilton  on  maraud- 
ing expeditions,  and  Clark,  who  was  soon  apprised 
of  the  condition  of  affairs,  determined  to  make  an 
attempt  for  the  immediate  recovery  of  the  post. 
Volunteers  swelled  his  force  to  a  hundred  and 

7 


98  MICHIGAN. 

seventy-six,  and  with  these,  early  in  February,  he 
began  his  march.  On  February  23d  he  was  before 
the  town,  having,  during  the  preceding  five  days, 
waded  several  miles  in  water  on  the  "drowned 
lands,"  often  with  the  water  up  to  the  breast.  A 
sharp  attack  upon  the  fort  was  at  once  made, 
which  met  with  vigorous  resistance ;  but  from  the 
first  the  resistance  was  hopeless,  and  at  noon^of 
the  following  day  the  post  wns  surrendered  with 
all  its  stores.  The  men  captured  were  nearly 
equal  in  number  to  the  force  of  Clark,  but  what 
was  more  important  WHS  the  capture  of  Hamilton 
himself.  Supplies  on  their  way  from  Detroit  were 
also  captured  a  few  days  later,  and  with  these  was 
taken  "  Dejean,  Grand  Judge  of  Detroit." 

Thus  by  the  invincible  bravery  of  a  single 
man,  with  a  force  so  insignificant  and  under 
difficulties  so  formidable  that  to  cool  heads  the 
attempt  might  well  have  seemed  foolhardy,  the 
Northwest  was  conquered  and  held  for  Virginia. 
The  title  of  the  State  was  doubtful  before,  but 
now  with  "  nine  points  of  the  law  "  in  her  favor, 
she  made  practical  assertion  of  her  right,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  organize  the  county  of  Illinois.  The 
possession  had  national  consequences  of  the  high- 
est value.  To  the  commissioners  who  negotiated 
the  treaty  of  peace  which  secured  American  inde- 
pendence, it  indicated  with  unerring  certainty  that 
the  true  northern  boundary  of  the  states  was  not 
the  Ohio,  but  the  line  of  the  great  lakes.  One 


HAMILTON  AND  DEJEAN.  99 

Virginia  surveyor,  by  his  valor  and  wisdom,  had 
secured  independence  to  America,  and  another 
had  given  to  the  Union  this  vast  Northwest,  with 
its  boundless  resources  and  its  brilliant  future. 

Hamilton  and  Dejean,  with  one  Lamothe,  were 
sent  prisoners  to  Virginia,  where  they  were  put  in 
irons  for  their  cruelties,  and  detained  with  refusal 
of  exchange.  The  council  of  state  held  inquisi- 
tion upon  their  case,  and  found  "  that  Governor 
Hamilton  has  executed  the  task  of  inciting  the 
Indians  to  perpetrate  their  accustomed  cruelties 
on  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  without  dis- 
tinction of  age,  sex,  or  condition,  with  an  eager- 
ness and  avidity  which  evince  that  the  general 
nature  of  his  charge  harmonized  with  his  particu- 
lar disposition.  .  .  .  That  Governor  Hamilton  gave 
standing  rewards  for  scalps,  but  offered  none  for 
prisoners,  which  induced  the  Indians,  after  making 
their  captives  carry  their  baggage  into  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  fort,  there  to  put  them  to  death 
and  carry  in  their  scalps  to  the  governor,  who 
welcomed  their  return  and  success  by  a  discharge 
of  cannon.  .  .  .  That  the  prisoner  Dejean  was  on 
all  occasions  the  willing  and  cordial  instrument 
of  Governor  Hamilton,  acting  both  as  judge  and 
keeper  of  the  jails,  and  instigating  and  urging 
him,  by  malicious  insinuations  ;md  untruths,  to 
increase  rather  than  relax  his  severities,  height- 
ening the  cruelty  of  his  orders  by  his  manner  of 
executing  them.  .  .  .  That  the  prisoner  Lamothe 


100  MICHIGAN. 

was  a  captain  of  the  volunteer  scalping  parties 
of  Indians  and  whites,  who  went  from  time  to 
time  under  general  orders  to  spare  neither  men, 
women,  nor  children." 1  Dejean  and  Lamothe  were 
suffered  to  go  on  parole  the  following  December, 
but  Hamilton  was  detained  until  October,  1780. 
His  connection  with  the  Indian  cruelties  may 
have  justified  the  hardship  of  his  treatment,2  but 
Jefferson  in  his  communications  with  Washington 
assigned  other  reasons  also.  "  You  are  not  unap- 
prised,"  he  said,  "  of  the  influence  of  this  officer 
with  the  Indians,  his  activity  and  embittered  zeal 
against  us.  You  also,  perhaps,  know  how  pre- 
carious is  our  tenure  of  the  Illinois  country,  and 
how  critical  is  the  situation  of  the  new  counties 
on  the  Ohio.  These  circumstances  determined  us 
to  detain  Governor  Hamilton  and  Major  Hay 
within  our  power  when  we  delivered  up  the  other 
prisoners." 3  He  added  that  on  representations 
of  the  people  of  Kentucky  of  what  they  had  rea- 
son to  apprehend  from  these  two  prisoners  in  the 
event  of  their  liberation,  assurances  had  been 
given  that  they  would  not  be  parted  with.  If, 
therefore,  they  were  not  detained  exclusively  for 
their  cruelty,  it  was  their  cruelty  which  excused 
the  policy  of  their  detention. 

1  Jefferson's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  226,  note. 

2  See  the  narrative  of  his  captivity,  Mag.  of  Am.  History,  vol 
i.  p.  1 76. 

3  Jefferson's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  258. 


THE  SYSTEM  AT  FAULT.  101 

But,  justly  as  Hamilton  deserved  condemnation 
for  his  cruelties,  it  is  not  probable  that  he  was 
conscious  of  deserving  the  censure  he  received,  or 
that  he  was  exceptionally  cruel  when  judged  by  the 
standard  of  the  times.  There  are  proofs  that  he 
sometimes  ransomed  prisoners  who  might  other- 
wise have  been  slaughtered,  and  showed  kindnesses 
where  the  interest  of  his  cause  did  not  seem  to 
forbid.  The  brutality  was  in  the  system,  rather 
than  in  the  men  who  administered  it ;  a  system 
which,  in  the  indignant  words  of  Lord  Chatham, 
was  "to  turn  forth  into  our  settlements,  among 
our  ancient  friends,  connections,  and  relations,  the 
merciless  cannibal,  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  man, 
woman,  and  child;  against  our  Protestant  breth- 
ren, to  lay  waste  their  country,  to  desolate  their 
dwellings,  and  extirpate  their  race  and  name  with 
those  horrible  hell-hounds  of  savage  war;"  and  for 
this  the  administration  was  responsible,  and  not 
the  agencies  employed  to  execute  its  will.  Even 
De  Peyster,  who  succeeded  Hamilton  in  command 
at  Detroit,  and  whose  reputation  has  escaped  the 
charge  of  barbarity,  is  said  on  one  occasion  to  have 
reproached  a  trader,  who  rescued  from  the  Indians 
two  female  prisoners  who  were  being  made  to  run 
the  gauntlet  preliminary  to  further  tortures.  If 
savages  were  to  be  employed,  they  must  be  left  to 
their  savage  ways. 

The  posts  in  the  Illino's  being  thus  captured 
and  occupied,  the  whole  West,  if  Detroit  could  be 


102  MICHIGAN. 

seized  by  the  Americans,  would  be  secure  from 
farther  forays  under  British  direction.  Mackinaw 
and  Montreal  were  too  far  away  to  constitute  bases 
of  operations  against  the  settlements  in  the  Ohio 
valley,  and  Mackinaw  itself  was  too  exposed  to  be 
either  a  gathering  place  for  attack  or  a  secure  re- 
treat. The  important  thing  to  be  now  accomplished 
was,  if  possible,  to  seize  and  occupy  Detroit.  Witli 
three  hundred  men  Clark  at  the  time  estimated 
that  he  could  effect  the  capture,  but  three  hun- 
dred men  he  had  no  means  of  raising,  and  the 
State  could  not  spare  them  for  his  service.  The 
impatient  soldier  declared  that  Detroit  was  lost 
for  the  want  of  a  few  men. 

De  Peyster  was  transferred  from  Mackinaw  to 
the  command  of  Detroit,  and  the  post  continued 
to  be  headquarters  of  plots  against  the  western 
settlements  until  the  war  was  over.  A  formida- 
ble force  of  British  and  Indians,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Bird,  was  sent  out  in  the  spring 
of  1780  upon  a  mission  of  devastation,  and  a 
couple  of  settlements  were  captured  and  a  few 
non-combatants  slaughtered  in  the  Licking  River 
valley;  but  the  force  accomplished  nothing  of 
which  its  commander  was  likely  to  boast.  With 
Hamilton  gone,  Detroit  proved  more  disquieting 
than  dangerous.  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Clark 
are  found  repeatedly  planning  to  equip  an  expe- 
dition for  its  capture,  but  the  time  seemed  never 
to  come  when  the  men  or  the  means  could  be 


THE  BRITISH  CLAIMS.  103 

spared  from  larger  operations  on  the  seaboard. 
But  the  American  occupation  of  the  Illinois  coun- 
try had  put  the  hostile  Indians  on  the  defensive, 
and  the  new  settlements  had  such  comparative 
peace  that  Jhey  continued  to  grow  and  extend. 

When  peace  came  to  be  negotiated  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  the  British 
commissioner  was  inclined  to  claim  for  Canada 
the  boundaries  named  in  the  Quebec  Act.  Mr. 
Secretary  Livingston,  writing  to  Franklin,  very 
pertinently  remarked  that  as  that  act  was  one  of 
the  laws  which  occasioned  the  war,  to  build  any- 
thing upon  it  would  be  to  urge  one  wrong  in 
support  of  another.  The  boundary  between  us 
and  Canada,  he  said,  had  been  very  well  ascer- 
tained by  grants,  charters,  proclamations,  and 
other  acts  of  government,  "  and  more  particularly 
by  the  settlements  of  people  who  are  engaged  in 
the  same  cause  with  us,  and  who  have  the  same 
rights  with  the  other  subjects  of  the  United 
States.  .  .  .  Our  claims  are  such  at  least  as  the 
events  of  the  war  give  us  a  right  to  insist  upon."  * 
Nothing  was  more  certain  than  this.  The  British, 
by  the  fortune  of  war,  had  succeeded  in  holding 
nothing  but  a  couple  of  posts  on  the  connecting 
waters  of  the  upper  lakes ;  all  else  had  been  wrested 
from  them,  and  many  little  communities  had  made 
their  homes  in  the  disputed  territory.  These  were 
Americans,  and  the  United  States  could  not  in 

1  Works  of  Franklin,  by  Sparks,  vol.  ix.  p.  129. 


104  MICHIGAN. 

honor  abandon  them.  The  proper  boundary  be- 
tween the  two  countries  in  this  part  of  the  world 
was  obviously  the  line  of  the  lakes,  and  the 
British  commissioner  did  not  strenuously  dispute 
it.  Great  Britain  was  perhaps  the  *iore  ready 
to  concede  the  American  claims  from  the  fact  that 
Spain  also  was  claiming  the  Ohio  valley,  and 
likely  to  make  trouble  for  the  nation  which  pos- 
sessed it.1 

Thus  was  th'e  Northwest  conquered  and  secured 
for  the  American  Union.  A  different  result  would 
have  changed  the  whole  current  of  subsequent 
American  history;  how  much  no  one  can  calculate, 
or  has  basis  for  any  reasonable  conjecture.  The 
achievement  was  of  incalculable  value  to  America, 
and  it  was  won  with  a  handful  of  men  by  the 
patriotism,  unflinching  courage,  and  energy  of 
George  Rogers  Clark. 

1  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  vol.  ii.  p.  225  ;  Works  of  John 
Adams,  vol.  viii.  p.  18  ;  Works  of  Franklin,  by  Sparks,  vol.  ix.  128 
et  seq.;  Pitkin's  Hist,  of  U.  S.  ch.  15. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GREAT  BRITAIN  RELUCTANTLY  SURRENDERS  THE 
JTORTHWEST. 

THE  valor  and  endurance  of  America  had  won 
from  the  mother  country  an  acknowledgment  of 
independence,  but  had  not  produced  a  clear  con- 
viction that  it  was  secure  and  permanent.  A  loose 
Confederacy  of  thirteen  states,  without  army  or 
navy,  or  treasury,  or  stable  executive,  or  power  of 
any  sort  to  compel  obedience  by  a  single  person 
to  its  proper  requirements  or  commands,  was  not 
a  spectacle  calculated  to  excite  admiration  01  to 
inspire  confidence.  To  the  thoughtful  and  disin- 
terested observer  it  must  have  seemed  probable 
that  for  want  of  cohesive  force  it  would  shortly 
fall  to  pieces.  The  interests  of  the  several  states 
were  greatly  variant,  and  for  that  reason  amica- 
ble relations  with  other  countries  on  some  subjects 
might  become  impossible.  The  Confederacy  owed 
a  large  debt  which  the  states  were  expected  to 
pay,  but  upon  what  basis  or  in  what  proportions 
it  was  not  possible  to  secure  consent  of  opinion  or 
harmony  of  action.  In  the  treaty  of  peace  stip~ 
ulations  had  been  inserted  in  the  interest  of  Brit- 


106  MICHIGAN. 

isli  creditors  and  American  loyalists,  which  must 
depend  for  their  enforcement  on  the  voluntary 
action  of  individual  states,  ^,nd  the  popular  op- 
position to  these  stipulations  was  in  some  quar- 
ters so  positive  and  aggressive  that  enforcement 
seemed  quite  out  of  the  question.  But  these  were 
not  all  the  discouraging  circumstances  which  the 
patriot  was  forced  to  contemplate,  and  in  which 
the  enemies  of  the  country  rejoiced.  The  poverty 
of  the  people,  and  their  manifest  inability  to  pay 
their  debts,  was  in  some  parts  of  the  country  so 
great  that  rebellion  was  threatened  if  the  courts 
were  allowed  to  perform  their  regular  functions. 
The  Indians  also  gave  occasion  for  alarm.  In 
the  negotiations  for  a  treaty  of  peace  they  had 
not  been  included,  but  had  been  left  to  be  dealt 
with  separately.  From  central  New  York  to  the 
Mississippi  they  had  in  general  sympathized  with 
Great  Britain  in  the  late  war ;  large  numbers  had 
taken  arms  in  its  cause,  and  Joseph  Brant,  the 
head  chief  of  the  Six  Nations,  a  man  of  educa- 
tion, of  great  intelligence  and  ability,  known  and 
respected  by  all  the  tribes,  had  held  a  commission 
in  the  British  army.  After  the  war  he  had  re- 
moved with  his  own  tribe,  the  Mohawks,  to  Can- 
ada, that  he  might  be  under  British,  rather  than 
American  jurisdiction.  Brant  had  a  deep  sense 
of  the  wrongs  his  people  had  suffered  and  were 
likely  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of  the  Americans ; 
reflecting  in  this  particular  the  general  feeling 


THE  ENGLISH  KEEP  BACK  THE  POSTS.      107 

among  them.  Under  all  these  circumstances  a 
condition  of  semi-hostility  existed  on  the  part  of 
the  Indians,  which  gave  no  little  concern  to  the 
state  and  confederate  governments,  and  kept  the 
new  settlements  disquieted. 

The  action  of  the  British  authorities  tended 
very  greatly  to  increase  this  disquiet,  and  to  keep 
up  the  belligerent  condition  among  the  Indians. 
When  the  line  of  the  lakes  had  been  agreed  upon 
as  the  northern  boundary,  it  had  been  expected 
that  the  British  would  immediately  surrender 
possession  of  Oswego,  Niagara,  Detroit,  and  the 
minor  posts  which  fell  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States.  This  expectation  was  not  fulfilled. 
Baron  Steuben  was  sent  by  Washington,  in  July, 
1783,  to  the  British  General  Haldiman  to  receive 
possession ;  but  on  making  known  his  business  he 
was  informed  by  that  officer  that  he  had  received 
no  instructions  for  the  surrender  of  the  posts,  and 
did  not  consider  himself  at  liberty  even  to  discuss 
the  subject.  He  was  so  ungracious  as  even  to 
refuse  the  baron  passports  to  visit  Niagara  and 
Detroit;  and  the  latter  was  compelled  to  return 
with  nothing  accomplished.  For  this  conduct  at 
the  time  there  could  have  been  no  sound  or 
friendly  reason.  Afterwards,  the  retention  of  the 
posts  was  excused  by  the  failure  on  the  part  of 
the  states  to  perform  some  of  the  stipulations  con- 
tained in  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace ;  and  it 
was  continued  until  the  ratification  of  Jay's  treaty, 


108  MICHIGAN. 

twelve  years  later.  Meantime  there  was  a  lin- 
gering hope  that  if  the  American  Confederacy,  as 
was  not  apparently  improbable,  should  fall  to 
pieces  from  its  own  inherent  weakness,  some  of 
the  states  at  least,  to  secure  to  themselves  the 
blessings  of  permanent  government,  might  be 
ready  to  return  to  their  old  allegiance,  and  the 
possession  of  the  posts  by  the  British  would  favor 
that  result.  What  was  certain  was  that  the  pos- 
session contributed  largely  to  keeping  up  the 
hopes  of  the  Indians,  and  to  perpetuating  the  con- 
dition of  hostility. 

In  the  fall  of  1784  the  United  States  had  en- 
tered into  a  treaty  with  the  Six  Nations  at  Fort 
Stanwix,  by  which  that  Confederacy  was  made  to 
consent  to  relinquish  all  claims  to  the  country 
west  of  a  line  beginning  on  Lake  Ontario,  four 
miles  east  of  Niagara,  thence  passing  southerly  to 
the  mouth  of  Buffalo  Creek,  thence  to  the  north 
boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  and  thence  west  and 
south  along  the  Pennsylvania  line  to  the  Ohio 
River.  This  treaty  had  caused  bad  feeling:  the 
Six  Nations  had  objected  to  entering  into  it  with- 
out the  presence  and  concurrence  of  the  western 
tribes  ;  but  the  government  had  insisted  on  nego- 
tiating with  them  alone,  and  they  had  very  un- 
willingly assented.  It  was  ominous  that  Brant 
was  not  present :  he  felt,  as  did  his  people  gener- 
ally, that  it  was  unjust  to  require  them  thus  to 
make  a  treaty  which  affected  others  as  well  aa 


INDIAN  ADDRESS  TO  TBE   UNITED  STATES.    109 

themselves,  without  the  presence  and  counsel  of 
the  parties  concerned.1  The  terms  of  the  treaty 
were  also  greatly  disliked  ;  they  were  vague  in 
their  references  to  territory,  and  more  might  be 
claimed  under  them  than  the  Indians  had  in- 
tended to  concede.  They  especially  objected  to 
any  implication  that  lands  west  of  the  Ohio  were 
to  be  surrendered  to  the  United  States ;  and  in 
December,  178d,  a  grand  confederate  council  was 
held  at  the  Huron  village,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Detroit,  to  consider  the  grievances  incident  to  the 
excessive  claims  under  this  treaty.2  At  this  coun- 
cil the  attendance  was  large  and  imposing:  the 
Six  Nations,  the  Hurons,  Ottawas,  Miamis,  Shawa- 
nese,  Chippewas,  Cherokees,  Delawares,  and  Pot- 
tawatamies,  and  the  Wabash  Confederacy  were 
represented,  and  an  address  to  the  United  States 
•was  adopted  with  general  concurrence.  The  ad- 
dress was  pacific  in  tone,  and  recommended  a 
further  grand  council,  in  which  the  United  States 
also  should  be  represented,  and  that  in  the  mean 
time  the  United  States  should  prevent  surveyors 
and  other  people  crossing  to  the  Indian  side  of 
the  Ohio.  The  address  plainly  indicated  a  pur- 
pose to  insist  upon  the  Ohio  boundary  as  an  ulti- 
matum ;  and  there  is  abundant  evidence  in  the 
correspondence  of  Brant  with  the  British  author- 
ities that  in  this  purpose  the  Indians  were  con- 

1  Life  of  Brant,  by  Stone,  vol.  ii  ch.  8. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  ch.  9. 


110  MICHIGAN. 

finned  by  the  advice  of  Sir  John  Johnson  and  of 
Major  Matthews,  who  had  recently  been  assigned 
to  the  command  at  Detroit,  if  not  by  that  of  Sir 
Guy  Carleton  himself,  now  become  Lord  Dor- 
chester. The  result  of  the  council  was  not  com- 
municated to  the  United  States  until  July,  1787, 
and  the  proposed  grand  council  was  never  held. 
The  Indians  came  together  again  in  1788,  but  the 
result  of  their  deliberations  remains  matter  of 
conjecture. 

Meantime  the  government  was  endeavoring  to 
form  treaties  with  the  western  tribes.  General 
St.  Clair  was  empowered  by  Washington  for  the 
purpose,  and  in  January,  1789,  he  proceeded  to 
negotiate  separate  treaties,  avoiding  all  recogni- 
tion of  a  confederacy,  and  all  common  or  con- 
certed action  among  the  tribes.  "  A  jealousy  sub- 
sisted between  them,"  he  said,  "  which  I  was  not 
willing  to  lessen  by  appearing  to  consider  them 
as  one  people."  1  This  was  statesmanship  accord- 
ing to  the  diplomatic  ideas  of  the  day  :  a  broader 
philanthropy  would  no  doubt  have  been  more  ex- 
pedient, as  well  as  more  humane.  The  object  of 
the  government  in  entering  into  treaties  was  to 
secure  peace,  but  treaties  were  powerless  for  this 
purpose  unless  they  resulted  in  friendly  relations  ; 
and  it  was  not  possible  that  friendly  relations 
should  be  established  by  encouraging,  directly  or 
indirectly,  the  tribal  animosities  and  jealousies,  or 

1  St.  Clair  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  113. 


SETTLERS  IN  THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY.  Ill 

by  a  course  of  conduct  which  plainly  indicated  a 
purpose  to  profit  by  them.  The  excuse  sometimes 
advanced,  that  the  white  people  did  not  create 
these  unfriendly  sentiments,  was  only  partly  true : 
from  the  first  they  had  practiced  making  use  of 
Indians  against  each  other,  and  one  of  the  chief 
purposes  which  the  Indians  proposed  to  accom- 
plish by  gathering  in  grand  council  was  to  allay 
tribal  jealousies  and  put  an  end  to  wars  among 
themselves.  The  western  tribes  were  incensed 
that  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  was  entered  into 
without  their  cooperation  and  advice,  and  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  same  policy  at  this  time  was  cer- 
tain to  spread  discontent  instead  of  allaying  it, 
and  to  offend  more  persons  than  it  would  pacify. 

Before  this  a  territorial  government  had  been 
given  to  the  Northwest  Territory,  with  St.  Clair 
for  governor,  and  settlers  began  to  pour  into  it. 
Marietta  was  founded  in  April,  1788,  and  Cin- 
cinnati in  December  of  the  same  year.  "  Arks," 
bearing  one  or  more  families  with  their  household 
goods,  were  floating  down  the  Ohio,  and  it  was 
evident  to  the  most  limited  comprehension  that  a 
tide  had  set  in  which,  unless  promptly  checked, 
must  overwhelm  or  drive  out  the  native  tribes. 
Nor  were  the  new-comers  altogether  honest  emi- 
grants :  lawless  characters  were  among  them,  and 
instances  were  not  wanting  of  atrocious  outrages 
upon  unoffending  Indians.1  Thus  individual  in- 

1  The  account  which  Sir  William  Johnson  in  his  letter  to  the 


112  MICHIGAN. 

jury  concurred  with  national  wrong  to  swell  the 
tide  of  hostile  feeling,  and  in  1790  statistics  were 
collected  from  which  it  appeared  that  since  1783 
no  less  than  fifteen  hundred  and  twenty  men, 
women,  and  children  had,  in  Kentucky  alone, 
been  killed  by  the  Indians  or  carried  away  into 
captivity.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  Indians,  in  the 
same  period,  had  suffered  less  than  the  white  peo- 
ple. 

This  condition  of  affairs  could  not  be  suffered 
to  continue,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1790  General 
Harmar,  with  an  army  of  near  fifteen  hundred 
men,  was  sent  into  the  territory  to  chastise  the 
Indians.  The  chastisement  inflicted  was  received 
by  his  own  army,  which  was  defeated  with  con- 
siderable loss,  and  the  depredations  were  renewed 
with  greater  fury  than  ever.  The  Indians  also 
sent  an  embassy  to  Lord  Dorchester,  that  they 
might  learn  what  assistance,  if  any,  could  be  ex- 
pected from  the  British  authorities.  Lord  Dor- 
chester gave  them  no  encouragement  whatever ; 
but  the  tenor  of  communications  made  to  them 
by  Sir  John  Johnson  and  others  was  such  as  to 
confirm  them  in  their  belief  that  they  were  right 
in  insisting  on  the  Ohio  as  a  boundary  ;  and,  as  a 
consequence,  all  the  efforts  made  by  Washington 
to  bring  about  peace  were  futile.  A  year  after 
the  defeat  of  Harmar,  St.  Clair  was  given  the 

Earl  of  Hillsborough  of  August  14,  1770,  pives  of  the  treatment 
of  the  Indians  iu  the  West  will  hold  good  of  a  much  later  period. 


THE  DISPUTE   OVER  BOUNDARIES.  113 

command  of  two  thousand  men,  an  army  thought 
to  be  ample  for  bringing  the  Indians  to  submis- 
sion ;  but  in  one  of  the  bloodiest  fights  in  the 
history  of  Indian  wars  he  was  defeated  and  com- 
pelled to  retire.  This  disaster  was  as  unexpected 
as  it  was  alarming :  the  whole  country  was  made 
uneasy  by  it,  and  the  Indians  became  more  bold 
in  their  ferocious  depredations.  It  seemed  neces- 
sary that  conciliation  should  again  be  attempted, 
and  the  President  invited  Brant  to  Washington, 
where  he  was  treated  with  great  respect,  and  the 
good  offices  of  the  Six  Nations  were  solicited  to 
bring  about  peace  with  the  western  tribes.  But 
the  western  tribes  were  not  so  much  bent  upon 
Avar  as  they  were  determined  to  insist  upon  what 
they  believed  to  be  their  rights ;  and  in  a  confer- 
ence at  the  Au  Glaize  they  would  agree  upon  no 
peace  that  did  not  fix  upon  the  Ohio  as  a  bound- 
ary. This  was  reiterated  in  a  formal  conference 
had  with  Messrs.  Lincoln,  Randolph,  and  Pick- 
ering, commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  summer  of  1793.  "  We  desire  you 
to  consider,"  they  said,  "  that  our  only  demand  is 
the  peaceable  possession  of  a  small  part  of  our 
once  great  country.  Look  back  and  view  the 
lands  from  whence  we  have  been  driven  to  this 
spot.  We  can  retreat  no  farther,  because  the 
country  behind  hardly  affords  food  for  its  present 
inhabitants ;  and  we  have,  therefore,  resolved  to 
leave  our  bones  in  this  small  space  to  which  we 


114  MICHIGAN. 

are  now  consigned.  We  shall  be  persuaded  that 
you  mean  to  do  us  justice  if  you  agree  that  the 
Ohio  shall  remain  the  boundary  between  us." l 
But  the  time  when  this  was  possible,  if  it  ever 
was,  had  gone  by ;  the  commissioners  had  no 
power  to  consent  to  it,  and  the  Indians  were 
given  distinctly  to  understand  that  it  was  out  of 
the  question. 

Brant  was  present  at  this  conference,  and  from 
a  speech  subsequently  made  by  him  it  appears 
that  a  treaty  was  prevented  by  British  interfer- 
ence. "  To  our  surprise,"  he  said,  "  when  on  the 
point  of  entering  upon  a  treaty  with  the  commis- 
sioners, we  found  that  it  was  opposed  by  those 
acting  under  the  British  government,  and  hopes 
of  assistance  were  given  to  our  western  brethren 
to  encourage  them  to  insist  upon  the  Ohio  as  a 
boundary  between  them  and  the  United  States."  2 
In  February,  1794,  Lord  Dorchester,  in  a  formal 
talk  with  the  Indians,  gave  them  further  encour- 
agement. "  From  the  manner  in  which  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  rush  on  and  act  and  talk 
on  this  side,  and  from  what  I  learn  of  their  con- 
duct towards  the  sea,  I  shall  not  be  surprised  if 
we  are  at  war  with  them  in  the  course  of  the 
present  year,  and  if  so,  a  line  must  then  be  drawn 
by  the  warriors."  Simcoe,  who  had  become  lieu- 
tenant-governor of  Upper  Canada,  soon  followed 

1  See  Life  of  Brant,  by  Stone,  vol.  ii.  ch.  11. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  358. 


WAYNE'S  EXPEDITION.  115 

this  talk  with  the  erection  of  a  new  fort  at  the 
foot  of  the  rapids  of  the  Maumee,  —  an  act  of 
which  the  hostile  nature  was  manifest.  The  In- 
dians were  greatly  elated,  and  emboldened  to  per- 
severe in  their  hostility,  while  Washington  felt 
outraged,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Jay  denouncing  it  in 
unmeasured  terms.  It  was,  he  said,  the  most  dar- 
ing act  yet  committed  by  the  British  agents  in 
America,  though  not  the  most  hostile  or  cruel ; 
u  for  there  does  not  remain  a  doubt  in  the  mind 
of  any  well-informed  person  in  this  country,  not 
shut  against  conviction,  that  all  the  difficulties  we 
encounter  with  the  Indians  —  their  hostilities,  the 
murders  of  helpless  women  and  innocent  children 
along  our  frontiers  —  result  from  the  conduct  of 
the  agents  of  Great  Britain  in  this  country."1 
And  he  added  that  it  was  in  vain  for  the  ad- 
ministration in  Britain  to  disavow  having  given 
orders  which  will  warrant  such  conduct,  while  its 
agents  go  unpunished. 

But  remonstrance  was  idle,  and  negotiation  with 
the  Indians  was  fruitless,  so  long  as  the  prestige  of 
success  in  the  field  remained  with  them ;  and  an- 
other campaign  was  necessary  to  bring  hostilities 
to  a  conclusion.  For  its  command  General  Wayne 
was  chosen;  and  in  June,  1794,  over  the  road 
where  St.  Clair  led  his  army  to  disaster,  Wayne 
marched  to  a  bloody  but  decisive  victory.  The 
battle  of  August  20,  1794,  was  fought  in  the 

1    Writings  of  Washington,  vol.  x.  p.  433. 


116  MICHIGAN. 

immediate  vicinity  of  the  new  British  fort  on  the 
Maumee ;  and  Major  Campbell,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  fort,  having  witnessed  the  disaster  to 
his  friends,  addressed  to  General  Wayne  an  ar- 
rogant and  impudent  note,  expressing  surprise 
at  the  appearance  of  an  American  force  almost 
within  reach  of  his  guns,  and  inquiring  in  what 
light  he  was  to  view  such  near  approaches  to  the 
garrison  which  he  had  the  honor  to  command. 
The  American  commander  replied  that  were  the 
major  entitled  to  an  answer  "the  most  full  and 
satisfactory  one  was  announced  the  day  before 
from  the  muzzles  of  his  small  arms  in  an  action 
with  a  horde  of  savages  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fort, 
and  which  terminated  gloriously  to  the  American 
arms."  And  he  added  that  "  had  it  continued 
until  the  Indians  were  driven  under  the  influence 
of  the  fort  and  guns  'mentioned,  they  would  not 
have  much  impeded  the  progress  of  the  victorious 
army  under  my  command,  as  no  such  post  was 
established  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
war  between  the  Indians  and  the  United  States." 
Other  notes  of  equal  asperity  followed,1  in  the  last 
of  which  Major  Campbell  warned  the  American 
general  that  he  must  not  approach  within  reach 
of  the  guns  of  the  fort  without  expecting  the 
consequences  that  would  attend  it,  and  Wayne 
responded  by  devastating  with  fire  the  land  about 
the  fort  almost  to  its  very  gates. 

1  Dillon's  History  of  Indiana,  352-355. 


TREATY  OF  PEACE  CONCLUDED.  117 

This  was  not  the  last  of  unfriendly  British  inter- 
ference. In  October  following  Governor  Simcoe 
was  himself  at  Fort  Miami,  and  in  a  conference 
with  chiefs  whom  he  had  invited  to  meet  him  he 
endeavored  to  keep  up  their  faith  in  British  as- 
sistance. He  was  still  of  the  opinion,  he  said, 
that  the  Ohio  was  their  right  and  title.  He  had 
given  orders  to  the  commandant  of  Fort  Miami  to 
fire  on  the  Americans  if  they  ventured  to  make 
their  appearance  again.  He  would  go  himself  to 
Quebec,  and  lay  their  grievances  before  "the  great 
man."  From  thence  they  would  be  forwarded  to 
the  king  their  father.  Next  spring  they  should 
know  the  result  of  everything,  —  what  they  should 
do  and  what  he  would  do.  And  he  gave  them  to 
understand  that  the  next  spring  the  English  would 
be  prepared  to  attack  the  Americans  and  drive 
them  across  the  Ohio. 

Although  Brant  joined  his  advice  to  the  gov- 
ernor's, the  speech  made  little  impression  upon 
the  Indians.  They  had  been  looking  from  fall  to 
spring  and  from  spring  to  fall  for  twelve  long 
years  for  British  assistance,  which  had  never 
come,  and  they  had  lost  faith  and  courage.  Their 
two  great  victories  had  fearfully  reduced  their 
numbers,  and  their  defeat  by  Wayne  threatened 
annihilation.  On  Wayne's  invitation  they  met 
him  in  council  at  Greenville,  where  on  August  3, 
1795,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded.  As  Brant 
said,  "the  Indians,  convinced  by  those  in  the 


118  MICHIGAN. 

Miami  fort,  and  other  circumstances,  that  they 
were  mistaken  in  their  expectations  of  any  as- 
sistance from  Great  Britain,  did  not  longer  oppose 
the  Americans  with  their  wonted  unanimity.  The 
consequence  was  that  General  Wayne,  by  the 
peaceable  language  he  held  to  them,  induced 
them  to  hold  a  treaty  at  his  own  headquarters,  in 
which  he  concluded  a  peace  entirely  on  his  own 
terms."  Large  grants  of  lands  were  made  to-the 
United  States ;  among  them  one  six  miles  in  width 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  peninsula  of  Michigan 
from  the  River  Raisin  to  Lake  St.  Clair,  another 
on  the  main  land  north  of  the  island  of  Mackinaw, 
six  miles  in  length  and  three  in  depth,  together 
with  the  Island  of  Bois  Blanc,  "  being  an  extra 
and  voluntary  gift  of  the  Chippewa  nation."  All 
claim  to  the  posts  of  Detroit  and  Mackinaw  and 
the  adjacent  lands  was  also  surrendered. 

Meantime  Jay  had  negotiated  a  treaty  with 
Great  Britain,  by  one  of  the  provisions  of  which 
it  was  stipulated  that  on  or  before  the  first  day  of 
June,  1796,  the  British  garrisons  should  be  with- 
drawn from  all  posts  and  places  within  the  limits 
of  the  United  States.  The  treaty  was  ratified 
after  a  controversy  of  extraordinary  earnestness 
and  acrimony,  and  the  garrisons  were  withdrawn 
according  to  its  terms.  On  July  11,  1796,  the 
American  flag  was,  for  the  first  time,  raised  above 
Detroit,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  Northwest  Territory  were  extended  over  the 


DEATH  OF   WAYNE.  119 

Michigan  settlements.  The  occupying  detach- 
ment was  from  Wayne's  command,  but  Wayne  in 
person  did  not  reach  the  town  until  the  following 
month.  He  then  took  command  of  the  post  until 
November,  when  he  started  for  the  East,  but  at 
Presque  Isle  succumbed  to  a  disease  which  termi- 
nated his  brilliant  and  useful  career. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   FOUNDATIONS   OF  A  FKEE   STATE  AKE  LAID 
IN  THE  NORTHWEST. 

AT  the  opening  of  their  struggle  for  Independ- 
ence, the  American  States  had  no  common  bond 
of  union  except  such  as  existed  in  a  common 
cause  and  common  danger.  They  were  not  yet  a 
nation  ;  they  were  only  a  loose  confederacy ;  and 
no  compact  or  ai'ticles  of  agreement  determined 
the  duties  of  the  several  members  to  each  other, 
or  to  the  Confederacy  as  an  aggregate  of  all.  The 
attempt  to  agree  upon  articles  of  union,  which 
should  determine  rights  and  prescribe  duties,  en- 
countered difficulties  which  for  a  long  time  ren- 
dered it  abortive.  One  of  the  chief  of  these 
concerned  the  vast  territory  lying  between  the 
Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi,  not  yet  settled  or 
occupied  by  people  of  European  race,  but  which 
the  people  of  the  states  were  determined  not  to 
abandon  to  the  king. 

The  Confederacy  as  such  could  of  course  make 
no  claim  to  this  territory  except  as  an  acquisition 
resulting  from  the  war;  but  it  was  claimed  by 
individual  states,  and  to  much  of  it  the  claims 


CONFLICT  OF  CLAIMS  TO  WESTERN  TERRITORY.  121 

were  conflicting.  This  was  particularly  the  case 
with  all  that  part  of  it  lying  north  of  the  Ohio 
and  west  of  the  present  boundary  of  Pennsylvania. 
New  York  claimed  it  under  the  Six  Nations, 
who,  by  their  martial  prowess,  had  established  a 
certain  undefined  and  only  partially  admitted  su- 
premacy over  the  tribes  of  the  region,  and  who 
had  themselves  acknowledged  subordination  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  New  York.  Virginia,  Massachu- 
setts, and  Connecticut  claimed  all  or  parts  of  it, 
under  the  vague  and  uncertain  terms  of  their 
charters,  and  Virginia  claimed  also  by  virtue  of 
the  conquest  made  by  Clark  under  the  authority 
of  the  State  and  at  its  expense ;  a  conquest  which 
the  State  had  made  complete  and  effectual  by  the 
organization  of  counties  and  the  establishment  of 
civil  government.  The  other  states  did  not  con- 
cede the  justice  of  these  claims.  Whatever  were 
the  rights  of  the  respective  colonies  before  the 
war,  none  of  them  had  made  its  claim  effective 
by  taking  possession  ;  and  if  the  territory  was  now 
wrested  from  Great  Britain,  it  must  be  done  by 
common  effort  and  common  sacrifices,  and  if  re- 
tained after  peace,  it  could  only  be  as  the  result  of 
a  treaty  made  by  the  common  authority.  The  ob- 
vious use  to  be  made  of  the  territory  after  acquisi- 
tion was  to  put  the  land  upon  the  market  for  set- 
tlement ;  and  it  seemed  entirely  just  and  reason- 
able under  the  circumstances  that  instead  of  being 
eold  for  the  benefit  of  one  or  more  of  the  states, 


122  MICHIGAN. 

it  should  be  considered  a  common  fund  to  be 
managed  and  disposed  of  for  the  advantage  of  all. 
Nor  did  this  seem  any  less  politic  than  it  was  just. 
To  permit  one  or  a  few  of  the  states  to  appro- 
priate this  vast  domain  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rest 
would  give  to  it  or  them  such  an  advantage  over 
the  others  in  point  of  territorial  extension  and  of 
material  wealth  as  would  make  their  preponder- 
ance in  the  Confederacy  dangerous  to  the  rights'  of 
the  others,  and  might  threaten  its  very  existence. 
Impressed  with  these  views  Delaware,  in  giving 
assent  on  February  1,  1779,  to  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  accompanied  the  act  with  the  dec- 
laration "  That  this  State  think  it  necessary  .  .  . 
that  a  moderate  extent  of  limits  should  be  ass'gued 
for  such  of  those  States  as  claim  to  the  Mississippi 
or  the  South  Sea,"  and  further  "  That  this  State 
consider  themselves  justly  entitled  to  a  right  in 
common  with  the  members  of  the  Union  to  that 
extensive  tract  of  country  which  lies  to  the  west- 
ward of  the  frontiers  of  the  United  States,  the 
property  of  which  was  not  vested  in  or  granted  to 
individuals  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
war :  that  the  same  hath  been  or  may  be  gained 
from  the  king  of  Great  Britain  or  the  native 
Indians  by  the  blood  and  treasure  of  all,  and 
ought  therefore  to  be  a  common  estate  to  be 
granted  out  on  terms  beneficial  to  the  United 
States."  In  this  Delaware  expressed  the  common 
opinion  of  all  the  states  which  made  no  separate 


SURRENDER   OF  CLAIMS   TO   THE  STATES.    123 

claims ;  but  Maryland  emphasized  the  opinion  by 
refusing  to  ratify  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
until  the  western  lands  were  ceded  to  the  Union. 
This  refusal  made  action  on  the  part  of  the  claim- 
ant states  imperative,  and  New  York  in  February, 
1780,  recognized  the  necessity  by  giving  to  its 
delegates  in  Congress  authority  to  make  on  its 
part  the  required  cession.  Connecticut  followed 
in  October  of  the  same  year  by  offering  to  cede  its 
claim  to  the  unsettled  territory  west  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, but  with  considerable  reservation  of  lands 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Lake  Erie  and  on  the 
east  by  Pennsylvania ;  a  tract  since  known  as 
the  Connecticut  Western  Reserve.  For  this  res- 
ervation the  State  could  advance  a  claim  of  very 
plausible  equity,  based  upon  the  fact  that  a  con- 
siderable tract,  which  had  been  claimed  under  its 
charter  with  much  apparent  reason  within  the 
existing  boundaries  of  Pennsylvania,  had  been 
taken  away  by  the  decision  of  a  federal  tribunal 
after  much  of  it  had  been  settled  by  purchasers 
under  Connecticut  grants.  Virginia,  in  the  De- 
cember following,  offered  a  cession  of  its  claims  to 
the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio,  but  coupled  it 
with  a  condition  that  its  claims  south  of  that 
river,  which  were  then  the  subject  of  much  con- 
troversy, should  be  guarantied.  The  New  York 
delegates,  in  March,  1781,  exercised  the  authority 
which  had  been  vested  in  them  to  give  a  deed  of 
cession,  but  reserved  a  right  to  rescind  unless  the 


124  MICHIGAN. 

same  guaranty  was  given  to  New  York  as  to  any 
other  ceding  state.  Maryland,  thereupon  assuming 
that  the  cessions  were  so  far  completed  as  to  ren- 
der the  result  certain,  gave  her  adhesion  to  the 
Articles  of  Confederation.  But  how  much  the, 
Confederacy  had  acquired  by  the  public  acts  so 
far  performed  was  a  question  of  no  small  moment. 
A  committee  of  Congress  reporting  the  next  year 
upon  the  western  claims  declared  the  title  of  Kew 
York  to  be  the  valid  title.  As  matters  then  stood 
it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  Confederacy  to  take 
this  position,  and  the  report  was  open  to  the  sus- 
picion that  it  was  made  for  effect  rather  than 
from  a  belief  in  the  soundness  of  its  conclusions. 
Thus  matters  stood  until  March,  1784,  when  Vir- 
ginia again  came  to  the  front  with  a  cession  quali- 
fied only  by  a  reservation  for  bounty  lands  for 
the  soldiers  who  with  Clark  made  the  conquest  of 
Kaskaskia  and  Vincennes,  and  with  stipulations 
for  the  reimbursement  of  the  expenses  of  that  con- 
quest, for  the  security  of  the  French  inhabitants, 
and  for  the  eventual  erection  of  republican  states 
within  the  ceded  territory.  Nobody  could  well 
complain  of  these  provisions.  Massachusetts  ceded 
its  claims  in  April,  1785,  and  the  cession  of  Con- 
necticut, with  the  reservation  already  mentioned, 
was  accepted  in  the  following  year.  By  these 
several  cessions  the  Union  acquired  jurisdiction 
over  the  territory  north  and  west  of  the  Ohio,  and 
title  to  its  unsold  lands  except  as  they  had  been 


PLAN  FOR  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  NORTHWEST.    125 

reserved,  but  subject  to  such  aboriginal  rights  as 
had  not  already  been  extinguished  by  treaties 
with  the  Indian  tribes. 

The  Confederacy  had  thus  acquired  a  vast  do- 
main, upon  which  there  were  already  living  many 
people.  These  people  were  without  a  govern- 
ment ;  and  some  provision  for  this  just  need  of 
the  social  state  was  imperative.  Such  provision 
could  now  be  made  by  no  single  state ;  it  must  be 
a  confederate  act ;  for  only  the  Confederacy  had 
jurisdiction  over  the  territory.  Minds  inclined  to 
be  captious  and  technical  might  have  interposed 
the  objection  that  the  Confederacy,  which  derived 
all  its  powers  from  the  states,  had  not  been  given 
authority  to  create  subordinate  governments.  But 
the  ca§e  was  not  one  to  be  disposed  of  on  a  tech- 
nicality ;  the  necessity  for  action  was  imperative, 
and  the  broad  statesmanship  of  Mr.  Jefferson  was 
prompt  to  recognize  and  act  upon  it.  Though 
never  at  any  time  inclined  to  liberal  construction 
of  federal  powers,  he  took  the  lead  in  the  steps  to 
give  the  people  of  the  territory  the  benefits  and 
protection  of  government,  and  as  chairman  of  a 
committee  of  three  upon  the  subject,  he  matured 
a  plan  which,  in  March,  1784,  he  reported  to  Con- 
gress. The  plan  was  comprehensive,  for  it  em- 
braced all  the  territory  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
proposed  to  divide  it  into  seventeen  parts,  with 
provision  for  temporary  governments,  contem- 
plating the  eventual  admission  of  the  several  parts 


126  MICHIGAN. 

as  states  into  the  Confederacy,  but  with  certain 
fundamental  principles  upon  which  both  the  tem- 
porary and  the  permanent  governments  were  to  be 
established.  The  first  of  these  was,  "  That  they 
shall  forever  remain  a  part  of  the  United  States 
of  America;"  the  last,  "  That  after  the  year  1800 
of  the  Christian  era,  there  shall  be  neither  slavery 
nor  involuntary  servitude  in  any  part  of  the  said 
States  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes, 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted 
to  have  been  personally  guilty." 

This  comprehensive  plan,  thus  embodying  the 
great  principles  of  perpetual  union  and  universal 
liberty,  and  proposing  to  organize  all  the  territory 
of  the  United  States  upon  them,  was  reported 
to  a  Congress  representing  states,  every 'one  of 
which,  save  Massachusetts,  was  then  slaveholding. 
If  adopted  and  given  full  effect,  it  must  inevitably, 
within  a  few  years,  bring  into  the  Union  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  free  states  to  put  the  slave-hold- 
ing states  into  permanent  minority.  "It  would, 
moreover,  so  effectually  circumscribe  the  area  of 
slavery  and  interpose  obstacles  to  its  extension, 
that  if  permitted  to  stand,  nothing  could  save  the 
institution  from  certain  and  not  long-delayed  de- 
struction. It  seems  a  bold  plan  to  be  proposed  to 
such  a  Congress ;  but  it  expressed  the  matured 
convictions  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  it  had  the  sup- 
port of  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  Virginia  of 
that  day. 


THE  ORDINANCE   OF  1787.  127 

The  states  were  not  fully  represented  in  Con- 
gress at  the  time,  and  the  anti-slavery  provision 
of  the  proposed  ordinance,  though  the  opposition 
to  it  was  but  feeble,  failed  to  receive  a  sufficient 
vote.  In  March  of  the  next  year  Rufus  King 
proposed  in  Congress  an  entire  and  immediate  pro- 
hibition of  slavery  in  all  the  territory  belonging 
to  the  Confederacy,  but  the  proposition,  though 
exciting  little  opposition,  was  not  acted  upon. 
Early  in  1787,  a  committee,  of  which  Nathan  Dane 
was  a  member,  reported  an  ordinance  drafted  by 
him,  which  received  the  unanimous  approval  of 
the  eight  states  then  represented  in  Congress,  and 
was  adopted  on  the  thirteenth  of  that  month. 

This  was  the  immortal  Ordinance  of  1787  "for 
the  government  of  the  Territory  Northwest  of  the 
Ohio;"  immortal  for  the  grand  results  which  have 
followed  from  its  adoption,  not  less  than  for  the 
wisdom  and  far-seeing  statesmanship  that  con- 
ceived and  gave  form  to  its  provisions.  No  char- 
ter of  government  in  the  history  of  any  people 
has  so  completely  withstood  the  tests  of  time  and 
experience:  it  had  not  a  temporary  adaptation  to 
a  particular  emergency,  but  its  principles  were 
for  all  time,  and  worthy  of  acceptance  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. It  has  been  the  fitting  model  for  all 
subsequent  territorial  government  in  America,  and 
BO  far  as  its  provisions  have  now  become  custom- 
ary in  organizing  territories,  thev  may  be  passed 
without  particular  mention. 


128  MICHIGAN. 

The  significant  provisions  were  contained  in  six 
articles,  which  it  was  declared  "  shall  be  considered 
as  articles  of  compact  between  the  original  states 
and  the  people  and  states  in  the  said  territory, 
and  forever  remain  unalterable  except  by  common 
consent."  The  first  of  these  provided  for  freedom 
of  religious  worship.  The  second  was  a  compre- 
hensive bill  of  rights;  and  in  the  enumeration  was 
included  an  unusual  and  very  significant  provision 
making  contracts  inviolable.  The  third  should  be 
given  in  the  words  of  the  author.  "  Religion, 
morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good 
government,  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools 
and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  en- 
couraged. The  utmost  good  faith  shall  always 
be  observed  towards  the  Indians ;  their  lands  and 
property  shall  never  be  taken  from  them  without 
their  consent,  and  in  their  property,  rights,  and 
liberty  they  shall  never  be  invaded  or  disturbed 
unless  in  just  and  lawful  wars  authorized  by  Con- 
gress ;  but  laws  founded  in  justice  and  humanity 
shall  from  time  to  time  be  made  for  preventing 
wrongs  being  done  to  them,  and  for  preserving 
peace  and  friendship  with  them."  The  fourth 
declared  that  the  states  to  be  formed  from  the 
territory  should  remain  permanently  in  the  Con- 
federacy and  share  its  obligations,  and  that  all 
navigable  waters  and  the  carrying  places  between 
them  should  be  free.  The  fifth  provided  that  not 
less  than  three  nor  more  than  five  states  should 


THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787.  129 

be  formed  from  the  territory,  and  that  these 
as  they  attained  a  population  of  sixty  thousand 
should  be  admitted  to  the  Union  under  republican 
constitutions.  The  sixth  again  should  be  given 
exactly  as  its  author  framed  and  the  Congrese 
adopted  it.  "  There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor 
involuntary  servitude  in  the  said  territory,  other- 
wise than  in  the  punishment  of  crime,  whereof  the 
party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted :  Provided 
always  that  any  person  escaping  into  the  same, 
from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in 
any  one  of  the  original  States,  such  fugitive  may 
be  lawfully  reclaimed  and  conveyed  to  the  per- 
sons claiming  his  or  her  labor  or  service  as  afore- 
said." 

In  all  this  ordinance,  so  full  and  complete  in  its 
provisions  for  government  and  for  the  protection 
of  individual  rights,  framed  though  it  was  when 
popular  notions  of  government  were  crude  and 
unsettled,  not  a  provision  appears  —  if  we  except 
the  proviso  to  the  sixth  article,  which  concerned 
external  relations  —  which  after  the  lapse  of  a 
century  does  not  still  appear  wise  and  proper ;  not 
a  line  which  one  could  wish  had  been  omitted  ; 
not  a  clause  which  one  could  desire  modified  in 
any  important  particular.  For  its  dedication  of 
the  territory  to  freedom  credit  has  been  given  by 
partial  friends  to  several  different  persons ;  but 
Jefferson  first  formulated  the  purpose,  and  for  him 
it  constitutes  a  claim  to  immortality  superior  to 

9 


130  MICHIGAN. 

the  presidency  itself.  The  one  was  proof  of  his 
greatness  and  far-seeing  statesmanship ;  the  be- 
stowment  of  the  other  evidenced  only  the  popular 
favor.  The  ordinance  was  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  American  slavery.  It  checked  at  the  banks 
of  the  Ohio  the  advance  of  a  system  fruitful  of 
countless  evils,  social  and  political ;  and  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  system  found  in  its  mandate  of 
uncompromising  prohibition  an  inspiration  "and 
a  prophecy  of  final  triumph  in  their  subsequent 
warfare. 

The  convention  for  framing  a  constitution  for 
the  United  States  was  in  session  when  the  ordi- 
nance was  adopted,  and  the  first  Congress  of  the 
Union  recognized  and  sanctioned  the  ordinance, 
and  provided  for  the  appointment  by  the  presi- 
dent, with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
of  the  governor,  and  other  territorial  officers. 
But  before  the  federal  constitution  had  been  rati- 
fied by  the  states,  the  Congress  of  the  Confederacy 
had  chosen  a  governor,  judges,  and  secretary,  and 
on  July  15,  1788,  Arthur  St.  Clair,  as  governor, 
had  in  great  state  made  his  formal  entry  into 
Marietta,  and  inaugurated  civil  government  amid 
the  plaudits  of  the  people.  Shortly  afterwards, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  judges,  he  proceeded  to 
give  laws  to  the  territory. 

But  the  Ordinance  of  1787  did  not  establish 
immediately  a  state  of  universal  freedom.  Many 
slaves  were  already  in  the  territory ;  some  of 


SLAVERY  IN  THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY.    131 

them  Africans,  brought  by  settlers  from  New 
York,  Virginia,  and  elsewhere ;  but  more  of  them 
Indians  or  their  descendants.  The  servants  who 
were  generally  preferred  at  that  day  were  Indians 
who  had  been  held  and  disposed  of  as  slaves  under 
the  French  and  English  governments,  and  were 
still  detained  as  such.  This  species  of  slavery 
was  founded  upon  the  assumed  right,  which  the 
Indians  had  acted  upon,  of  selling  their  captives 
as  the  alternative  to  putting  them  to  death  ;  and 
it  had  existed  from  the  early  settlement  of  the 
country.  The  most  of  these  slaves  were  Pawnees; 
that  tribe  was  generally  considered  by  the  others 
as  degraded,  and  for  that  reason  the  prisoners 
taken  from  it  were  more  often  sold  for  degrading 
service.  Traders  purchased  them  to  do  the  drudg- 
ery of  the  fur  trade ;  families  procured  them  as 
house-servants,  and  Pawnee,  or  Pani,  came  to  be 
the  common  appellation  given  to  all  slaves.  But 
the  practice  of  purchasing  them  had  ceased  before 
the  territory  came  into  the  possession  of  the  United 
States ;.  and  now  the  question  which  concerned 
them  was  whether  their  bonds  were  sundered  by 
the  ordinance. 

The  slaves  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  as  re- 
gards the  legal  questions  affecting  their  liberty, 
might  be  ranged  in  three  classes ;  the  first  em- 
bracing those  who  were  in  servitude  to  French 
owners  previous  to  the  cession  of  jurisdiction  to 
England,  and  who  were  still  claimed  as  property 


132  MICHIGAN. 

in  which  the  owners  were  protected  under  the 
treaty  of  cession  ;  the  second,  those  who  were  held 
by  British  owners  at  the  time  of  Jay's  treaty  and 
claimed  afterwards  as  property  under  its  protec- 
tion ;  and  the  third,  those  who  since  the  terri- 
tory had  come  under  American  control  had  been 
brought  into  it  from  the  states  in  which  slavery 
was  lawful.  In  the  case  of  the  first  two  classes 
the  claim  of  the  masters  was  generally  recognized 
as  indisputable,  and  it  was  always  enforced  when 
contested ;  the  third  class,  when  held  at  all,  as  was 
not  unfrequently  the  case,  were  quite  as  generally 
believed  to  be  held  in  evasion  or  defiance  of  law. 
But  such  slavery  as  was  then  in  the  country 
existed  in  very  mild  form,  and  no  glaring  evils  or 
abuses  arrested  public  attention,  or  excited  active 
hostility  to  the  institution.  The  anti-slavery  pro- 
vision in  the  ordinance,  therefore,  probably  for 
this  reason  more  than  for  any  other,  was  very 
generally  treated  as  having  only  prospective  force, 
and  as  not  designed  to  disturb  existing  relations, 
whether  originating  under  French,  English,  or 
American  law.  And  in  this  treatment  of  the 
subject  the  governor  apparently  concurred.  The 
anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  day  was  not  ag- 
gressive, and  it  was  much  less  pronounced  among 
the  people  than  it  was  among  the  leading  states- 
men in  Congress,  who  had  been  active  in  the  Rev- 
olution, and  for  many  years  had  given  thoughtful 
attention  to  the  subject  of  human  rights  in  all  its 


INDIANA  TERRITORY.  133 

aspects.  By  them  the  elements  which  go  to  the 
making  of  great  states  had  been  carefully  consid- 
ered, and  the  most  of  those  who  were  inclined  to 
tolerate  slavery  at  all  did  so  in  the  expectation 
that  it  would  prove  but  a  temporary  evil.  But 
the  people  at  large  had  given  the  subject  little 
attention ;  they  knew  the  slaves  only  as  servants 
who  seemed  to  be  as  well  treated,  as  others,  and 
they  did  not  pause  to  consider  their  status  further, 
or  to  speculate  upon  the  effect  of  degraded  labor 
upon  the  social  or  political  state. 

Subsequent  proceedings  made  it  painfully  evi- 
dent that  the  public  sentiment  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  was  not  well  advanced.  By  act  of  Con- 
gress of  May  7,  1800,  the  Northwest  Territory 
was  divided  and  Ohio  set  off,  the  remainder  re- 
ceiving a  government  under  the  name  of  Indiana. 
The  boundary  line  between  Ohio  and  Indiana  ran 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River  to  Fort 
Recovery,  and  thence  due  north  to  Canada,  thus 
assigning  the  eastern  portion  of  Michigan  to  Ohio. 
But  this  arrangement  did  not  long  continue ; 
Ohio  in  1802  formed  and  adopted  a  constitution 
with  more  restricted  bounds,  and  by  act  of  Con- 
gress the  following  winter  was  declared  a  state 
in  the  Union.  The  territory  north  of  the  new 
boundary  of  Ohio  was  annexed  to  the  Territory  of 
Indiana,  which  was  thus  made  to  include  all  the 
lower  peninsula  of  Michigan. 

William  Henry  Harrison  was  the  first  governor 


134  MICHIGAN. 

of  Indiana  Territory,  and  among  the  subjects  to 
which  the  people  invited  his  early  attention  was 
their  inability  under  the  ordinance  to  acquire  and 
hold  slaves.  Many  of  them  had  come  from  slave- 
holding  states  and  were  accustomed  to  slave  labor ; 
and  it  seemed  to  them  a  hardship  that  they  should 
be  deprived  of  it.  But  the  inhibition  of  slavery 
discouraged  immigration,  and  in  many  ways,  as 
the  people  thought,  hindered  the  development  of 
the  resources  of  the  country.  A  popular  con- 
vention held  in  1802,  presided  over  by  the  gov- 
ernor himself,  adopted  a  petition  to  Congress 
which  prayed  for  a  temporary  suspension  of  the 
anti-slavery  article.  The  petition  was  received 
with  respect,  and  referred  for  consideration  to  a 
committee  of  which  John  Randolph  was  chair- 
man, but  it  found  no  favor  with  the  committee, 
and  received  no  further  attention  from  Congress. 
"  The  rapid  population  of  the  State  of  Ohio," 
said  Mr.  Randolph,  reporting  upon  it,  "sufficiently 
evinces,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  that 
the  labor  of  slaves  is  not  necessary  to  promote 
the  growth  and  settlement  of  colonies  in  that  re- 
gion ;  that  this  labor,  demonstrably  the  dearest  of 
any,  can  only  be  employed  in  the  cultivation  of 
products  more  valuable  than  any  known  to  that 
quarter  of  the  United  States ;  that  the  committee 
deem  it  highly  dangerous  and  inexpedient  to  im- 
pair a  provision  wisely  calculated  to  promote  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  northwestern 


SLAVERY  IN  INDIANA   DEFEATED.  135 

country,  and  to  give  strength  and  security  to  that 
extensive  frontier.  In  the  salutary  operation  of 
this  sagacious  and  benevolent  restraint,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  inhabitants  of  Indiana  will,  at  no 
very  distant  day,  find  ample  remuneration  for  a 
temporary  privation  of  labor  and  of  emigration." 
So  Virginia  stood  firm  in  her  purpose  to  preserve 
for  freedom  the  domain  which  had  been  pledged 
to  it  by  her  early  and  wise  policy. 

The  petitioners  were  not  discouraged  by  this 
first  rebuff,  but  renewed  their  application ;  and  in 
two  successive  Congresses  reports  of  committees 
were  obtained  favorable  to  their  views.  For  un- 
explained reasons  upon  neither  of  these  was  action 
taken.  A  third  favorable  report  was  obtained  in 
1807,  which  recommended  a  suspension  for  ten 
years  from  the  succeeding  January,  but  this  also 
was  ignored  by  Congress.  In  the  autumn  of  1807 
Governor  Harrison  united  with  the  legislature  in 
renewing  the  request  for  suspension ;  but  this  time 
a  select  committee  reported  against  it,  and  the  at- 
tempt to  secure  this  change  in  the  organic  law,  so 
long  and  so  persistently  urged,  became  evidently 
hopeless,  and  was  at  last  abandoned.  Albert  Gal- 
latin  truly  said  to  Badollet,  "  If  you  have  had  a 
share  in  preventing  the  establishment  of  slavery 
in  Indiana,  you  will  have  done  more  good  to  that 
part  of  the  country  at  least  than  commonly  falls 
to  the  share  of  man." l 

1  Life  of  Gallatin,  by  Adams,  406. 


136  MICHIGAN. 

While  this  last  petition  was  pending  in  Congress 
legal  proceedings  arose  in  Michigan  which  called 
for  authoritative  examination  of  the  whole  subject 
of  slavery  in  that  territory.  As  there  were  some 
slaves  on  both  sides  the  national  boundary,  cases  of 
fleeing  from  servitude  sometimes  occurred  which 
led  to  bad  blood,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to 
secure  territorial  legislation  for  restoring  fugitives 
from  Canada,  but  the  necessary  vote  in  the  legis- 
lature could  not  be  secured.  Several  persons  held 
as  slaves  by  masters  residing  in  the  territory  also 
demanded  their  freedom  on  writs  of  habeas  cor- 
pus ;  and  these  were  made  returnable  before  the 
chief  justice,  who  gave  the  subject  careful  ex- 
amination. In  the  case  of  one  held  as  a  slave 
at  the  date  of  Jay's  treaty,  there  was  no  difficulty 
in  deciding  that  the  relation  was  still  lawful ;  but 
as  to  others  the  judgment  was  different.  The 
arguments  made  on  behalf  of  the  masters  are  not 
preserved ;  but  it  is  manifest  from  the  opinion 
that  the  discussion  took  a  wide  range,  and  that 
the  competency  of  the  legislation  which  undertook 
to  prohibit  in  the  territories  what  was  permitted 
by  the  states  was  questioned.  But  the  chief  jus- 
tice met  the  case  squarely,  and  declared  that  in 
cases  not  covered  by  treaty  slavery  could  not  exist 
in  the  territory,  either,  1,  by  the  law  of  nations; 
or,  2,  by  the  common  law ;  or,  3,  by  domestic  leg- 
islation. And  he  then  proceeds  to  say :  — 

"lu  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  in  some 


SETTLEMENT  OF  SLAVERY  CONTROVERSY.    137 

parts  also  of  the  British  dominions,  a  judicial  character 
could  not  lay  down  these  positions;  and  he  must  cer- 
tainly feel  a  strong  sense  of  shame  for  his  country  that 
she  does  not  permit  him  ;  as  on  the  contrary  every  Eng- 
lishman feels  and  must  feel  a  very  just  pride  of  country 
when  he  reflects  on  the  position  laid  down  by  Lord 
Mansfield. 

"  But  in  this  part  of  her  dominions  my  country  does 
enable  me  to  lay  down  this  position,  and  to  act  upon  it, 
with  a  very  slight  exception,  and  that  entirely  in  favor 
of  British  settlers  by  virtue  of  a  special  treaty.  In 
other  respects  her  will  is  there  shall  be  '  neither  slavery 
nor  involuntary  servitude  '  in  this  territory.  I  am,  there- 
fore, bound  to  say  and  do  say,  that  a  right  of  property 
in  the  human  species  cannot  exist  in  this  territory 
except  as  to  persons  in  the  actual  possession  of  British 
settlers  in  this  territory  on  16th  June,  1796,  and  that 
every  other  man  coining  into  this  territory  is  by  the  law 
of  the  land  a  freeman,  unless  he  be  a  fugitive  from  law- 
ful labor  and  service  in  some  other  American  state  or 
territory ;  and  then  he  must  be  restored."  l 

There  was  no  appeal  from  this  decision,  and  it 
settled  the  controversy  finally  for  this  part  of  the 
country.  It  will  be  remarked  that  no  notice  was 
taken  of  cases  which  might  have  arisen  under  the 
French  cession;  but  the  great  lapse  of  time  had 
made  the  question  under  that  treaty  of  historical 
importance  only. 

Illinois,  after  it  had  come  to  be  a  state,  was 
destined  to  be  the  theatre  of  a  pro-slavery  agita- 

1  MSS.  opinion  in  possession  of  Michigan  Historical  Society. 


138  MICHIGAN. 

tion,  which  was  carried  on  with  no  little  acrimony, 
and  with  every  appearance  for  a  time  of  probable 
success.  The  question  then  made  was  compli- 
cated, for  it  involved  both  congressional  and  state 
action.  The  State  had  been  admitted  to  the 
Union  under  a  constitution  adopted  by  the  people, 
and  subject  to  change  only  by  the  people,  and 
which  prohibited  slavery.  The  anti-slavery  article 
in  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  being  one  of  "  compact 
between  the  original  states  and  the  people  and 
states  in  the  said  territory,"  and  "  forever  unal- 
terable except  by  common  consent,"  would  stand 
in  full  force  even  if  the  constitution  were  amended, 
unless  by  the  consent  of  Congress  it  was  abrogated 
or  suspended.  Thus  both  the  state  constitution 
and  the  ordinance  stood  in  the  way  of  the  agi- 
tators for  slave  labor;  the  one  must  be  changed 
by  popular  voice,  the  other  by  the  national  legis- 
lature. In  the  year  1823  the  attempt  was  made 
to  secure  an  amendment  to  the  constitution.  Had 
the  attempt  succeeded,  and  had  that  great  state 
as  a  political  force  been  arrayed  for  the  extension 
and  perpetuity  of  slavery,  the  current  of  subse- 
quent American  history  and  the  probable  destiny 
of  the  Union  would  have  been  altogether  changed. 
It  was  fortunate  for  the  State,  for  the  American 
Union,  and  for  mankind,  that  the  State  had  in  the 
person  of  its  governor  a  statesman  at  once  far- 
seeing  and  patriotic,  fearless  and  able,  persistent 
in  what  he  knew  to  be  right,  and  who  did  not  for  a 


EDWARD   COLES.  139 

moment  hesitate  when  the  question  was  presented 
to  him,  whether  he  would  yield  to  a  prevailing 
sentiment  for  the  sake  of  personal  popularity  and 
a  political  future,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  would 
allow  himself  to  be  the  sacrifice  to  preserve  his 
commonwealth  from  the  evils  of  slave  labor. 

Edward  Coles  had  himself  been  a  slaveholder, 
and  had  come  to  the  Northwest  that  he  might 
emancipate  his  slaves,  and  thus  sever  all  connec- 
tion with  a  system  of  labor  and  dependence  which 
to  him  was  abhorrent.  When  the  pro-slavery  agi- 
tation began,  he  took  up  promptly  and  fearlessly 
the  gage  of  battle  which  was  cast  at  his  feet,  and 
in  a  struggle  deserving  of  perpetual  remembrance 
and  praise  achieved  a  victory  which  was  signal 
and  conclusive.  To  his  skill,  fidelity  to  principle, 
and  unflinching  courage  it  is  due  that  the  noble 
commonwealth  of  which  he  was  executive  did  not 
even  temporarily  lose  its  place  in  the  category  of 
free  states,  and  that  its  onward  progress  in  pop- 
ulation and  wealth,  and  in  all  the  elements  of 
greatness,  was  never  for  a  moment  delayed  or  em- 
barrassed by  this  attempt  to  turn  back  the  wheels 
of  time  and  take  up  again  the  discarded  system  of 
degraded  and  degrading  labor. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

MICHIGAN  BECOMES  A  TERRITORY  AND  IS  GIVEN 

RULERS. 

-«. 

THE  Territory  of  Michigan  was  set  off  from 
Indiana  on  June  30,  1805.  It  was  to  embrace 
all  that  portion  of  Indiana  Territory  lying  north 
of  a  line  drawn  east  from  the  southerly  bend  or 
extreme  of  Lake  Michigan,  until  it  intersected 
Lake  Erie,  and  lying  east  of  a  line  drawn  from 
the  same  southerly  bend  through  the  middle  of 
Lake  Michigan  to  its  northern  extremity,  and 
thence  due  north  to  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
United  States. 

The  settled  parts  of  the  territory  had  then  for 
nine  years  been  in  possession  of  the  United  States, 
but  the  increase  in  population  had  been  insig- 
nificant. Some  slight  addition  had  been  made  by 
French  families  coming  in  from  Canada,  and  we 
have  seen  that  some  enterprising  persons  of  other 
nationalities  had  come  for  the  purposes  of  trade. 
But  with  the  change  in  jurisdiction  there  had 
been  some  loss  of  inhabitants  also  by  the  removal 
to  Canada  of  persons  who  had  reasons  for  pre- 
ferring to  live  under  British  rule. 


FATHER  GABRIEL  RICHARD.  141 

Detroit  was  still  the  principal  settlement.  It 
had  taken  on  a  certain  municipal  dignity  by  being 
incorporated  as  a  "town"  by  the  legislature  of 
the  Northwest  Territory  in  1802,  but  it  was  still 
a  small  hamlet,  and  almost  without  growth.  The 
people,  for  the  most  part,  professed  the  Catholic 
religion ;  but  their  piety  scarcely  went  beyond 
profession ;  the  days  of  intense  zeal  had  passed 
away,  and  general  indifference  had  succeeded. 
Since  the  conquest  by  England  the  people  had 
been  gi'eatly  neglected  by  their  spiritual  teachers 
and  superiors ;  and  the  restraints  which  had  done 
something  to  preserve  their  morals  in  the  half 
savage  life  led  by  so  many  of  them  as  hunters, 
trappers,  and  voyageurs  had  almost  entirely  been 
withdrawn.  Now,  however,  they  had  among  them 
Father  Gabriel  Richard,  a  faithful  and  devoted 
pastor,  who,  under  many  discouragements,  was  do- 
ing what  he  found  it  in  his  power  to  do  to  restore 
or  convert  the  people  to  Christianity,  and  to  moral 
and  decent  lives. 

Father  Richard  would  have  been  a  man  of 
mark  in  almost  any  community  and  at  any  time. 
He  had  come  to  America  in  1792  at  the  age 
of  twenty-eight,  and  placing  himself  at  the  dis- 
posal of  Bishop  Carroll  of  Baltimore,  had  been 
sent  by  him  first  to  Illinois,  where,  without  evi- 
dence of  much  valuable  fruit,  he  labored  until 
1798,  and  was  then  transferred  to  Detroit.  He 
was  a  plain  man,  simple  in  all  his  habits,  and  ab- 


142  MICHIGAN. 

stemious  in  all  his  indulgences.  In  his  Christian 
labors  he  soon  perceived  that  the  intemperance  of 
the  people  was  likely  to  prove  the  chief  obstacle 
to  success,  and  to  the  cure  of  this  he  addressed  his 
efforts  directly,  not  limiting  them  to  indulgence  in 
intoxicating  drinks,  but  to  the  use  of  tobacco  also. 
But  the  evil  of  intoxication  was  too  deep-seated 
for  any  one  man,  however  much  he  might  be  re- 
spected, to  make  sensible  inroads  upon  it.  It  per- 
vaded all  classes  of  society,  and  was  not  wholly  a 
matter  of  indulgence  of  appetite.  With  well-to-do 
people  it  was  to  some  extent  a  matter  of  fashion ; 
with  other  classes  a  matter  of  imitation.  Burnet 
has  left  us  a  graphic  picture  of  the  dinner  parties 
given  by  the  fur  traders  of  Detroit,  in  which 
*'  they  competed  with  each  other  for  the  honor  of 
drinking  the  most,  as  well  as  the  best,  wine  with- 
out being  intoxicated  themselves,  and  of  having 
at  their  parties  the  greatest  number  of  intoxicated 
guests."  l  It  was  thus  that  they  offset  the  priva- 
tion and  suffering  of  their  excursions  into  the  wil- 
derness ;  their  lives,  as  another  observer  said, 2  con- 
sisting in  one  constant  succession  of  amusements: 
"dances,  rides,  dinners,  card  parties,  and  all  the 
et  ceteras  of  dissipation  follow  in  one  long  train, 
treading  each  on  the  heels  of  the  other."  It  was 
little  that  the  sincere  and  fatherly  advice  of  any 

1  Burnett's  Notes,  283.     As  to  Indian  degradation  from  intoxica- 
tion, see  Ibid.  389  et  seq. 

2  Judge  Wm.  Woodbridge  :  Memoir  by  Lanman,  p.  14. 


FATHER  RICHARD'S  SPIRITUAL  OVERSIGHT.    143 

priest  or  pastor  could  accomplish  with  the  common 
people  when  such  were  the  examples  set  for  them 
by  the  men  of  wealth,  the  leaders  in  business,  and 
in  society. 

Father  Richard  did  not  confine  his  labors  to 
Detroit,  but  in  the  summer  of  1799  he  visited 
Mackinaw,  which  he  found  to  be  a  place  con- 
taining fifty  houses,  but  where  a  thousand  people 
sometimes  congregated.  These  people  also  had 
once  been  nominally  Catholic,  but  the  children 
among  them  were  mostly  illegitimate  ;  and  it  was 
"  very  painful  to  see  so  many  poor  creatures 
left  without  instruction,  several  of  them  scarcely 
knowing  how  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross."  He 
was  informed  that  the  same  condition  of  things 
prevailed  farther  on  to  the  northwest  "  where  the 
great  Northwest  Company  of  Montreal  employ 
nearly  seventeen  hundred  men,  nearly  all  Cana- 
dians." He  visited  the  settlement  of  the  Ottawas 
on  Lake  Michigan,  where  he  was  received  gladly. 
He  proposed  to  send  a  priest  among  them  "  for 
their  instruction,  or  at  least  for  that  of  their 
children,"  but  though  they  seemed  thankful  for 
this,  and  took  the  offer  into  consideration,  they 
never  made  reply  to  it.  "  The  truth  of  the  matter 
is,"  he  is  mournfully  compelled  to  admit,  "  they 
are  so  much  addicted  to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits 
that  they  care  very  little  about  religion.  .  .  .  The 
trade  there  is  principally  in  liquors,  and  as  long 
as  this  state  of  things  exists  there  can  be  no  pros- 


144  MICHIGAN. 

pect  of  making  them  Christians."  He  repeats  the 
saying  of  another  that  the  traffic  in  English  rum 
has  destroyed  more  Indians  than  the  Spanish 
sword,  and  wishes  it  could  be  abolished,  but  sees 
no  hope  of  it.  He  returned  to  Mackinaw,  where 
he  found  ample  need  for  his  services,  and  would 
gladly  have  remained  for  the  winter;  but  duty 
seemed  to  demand  his  presence  at  Detroit,  and 
he  came  back  to  his  regular  charge. 

If  Father  Richard  had  tasted  the  "  English 
rum"  of  Indian  commerce  he  would  have  dis- 
covered, if  he  did  not  already  know  by  common 
report,  that  what  was  sold  to  the  Indians  by  that 
name  was  for  the  most  part  neither  rum  nor  any 
other  liquor  known  to  civilized  trade.  It  was  a 
preparation  specially  made  for  Indian  use.  Two 
gallons  of  whiskey  in  a  barrel  of  water,  with  to- 
bacco sufficient  to  impart  the  desired  intoxicating 
quality,  made  an  article  as  suitable  for  this  tirade 
as  any  other.  The  cost  to  the  dealer  was  trifling, 
and  the  profits  of  the  trade  enormous. 

The  condition  of  the  Sault  St.  Marie  at  this 
period  was  quite  as  repulsive  as  that  of  any  of  the 
fur-trading  stations  described  by  Father  Richard. 
Mackenzie,  who  visited  it  in  1793,  said  of  it,  "It 
is  dwindled  to  nothing,  and  reduced  to  about 
thirty  families  of  the  Algonquin  nation,  who  are 
one  half  the  year  starving,  and  the  other  half 
intoxicated,  and  ten  or  twelve  Canadians  who 
have  been  in  the  Indian  country  from  an  early 


CONDITION  OF  THE  WHITE  POPULATION.    145 

period  of  life,  and  intermarried  with  the  natives, 
who  have  brought  them  families."  Game  was  al- 
ready gone,  and  the  Indians  lived  mainly  on  fish  ; 
but  "  whatever  quantity  they  may  have  taken, 
it  is  never  known  that  their  economy  is  such  as  to 
make  it  last  through  the  winter,  which  renders 
their  situation  very  distressing."  l  Equally  dis- 
tressing, and  for  the  same  reasons,  was  the  condi- 
tion of  the  Indians  in  other  parts  of  the  territory. 
That  of  the  white  people  was  substantially  the 
same  at  Detroit  and  elsewhere.  The  total  white 
population  of  the  territory  at  this  time  did  not 
exceed  four  thousand,  and  the  fur  trade  was  still 
the  leading  industry.  The  number  of  "settle- 
ments "  or  farms  was  found  on  actual  count  to  be 
four  hundred  and  forty-two,  of  which  more  than  a 
fourth  were  at  Frenchtown  on  the  Raisin,  where 
French  famili*  had  begun  to  settle  in  1784.  A 
few  were  on  Grosse  Isle,  but  the  most  of  them 
were  on  the  Rouge  and  other  streams  flowing 
eastwardly.  Many  of  them  were  locations  with- 
out lawful  permission  on  the  public  lands,  so  that 
in  law  the  settlers  were  mere  trespassers.  In  all 
the  territory  it  was  believed  there  were  but  eight 
good  titles  to  land.  The  claims  were  numerous, 
and  were  derived  from  various  sources,  but  the 
most  of  them  were  either  clearly  illegal  in  their 
origin,  or  had  become  invnlid  by  reason  of  some 
breach  of  condition.  But  nobody  was  questioning 

1  Mackenzie's  Travels,  xxxviii. 
10 


146  MICHIGAN. 

the  titles,  and  the  people  troubled  themselves  but 
little  about  the  defects.  They  were  lively  and 
gay,  if  not  happy ;  they  had  no  feeling  of  respon- 
sibility in  respect  to  public  and  governmental 
concerns,  and  submitted  cheerfully  and  without 
question  to  the  authorities  placed  over  them. 

The  government  of  the  territory  was  already 
outlined  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  which  was 
closely  followed.  The  executive  was  to  be  a  gov- 
ernor appointed  by  the  president,  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  senate,  and  there  was  to  be  a 
secretary  who  would  perform  the  duties  of  gov- 
ernor if  the  latter  officer  was  absent  or  the  office 
vacant.  The  judiciary  was  to  consist  of  three 
judges,  also  of  presidential  appointment.  The 
legislature  was  at  first  to  consist  of  the  governor 
and  judges,  who  were  not,  however,  to  originate 
laws,  but  were  to  adopt  such  as  were  suitable 
from  the  laws  of  the  original  states ;  and  the  laws 
so  adopted  were  to  be  in  force  unless  disapproved 
by  Congress.  The  whole  government  thus  orig- 
inated in  Washington  and  centred  there,  and  was 
neither  derived  from  the  people  governed  nor 
responsible  to  them.  But  as  yet  the  interest  of 
the  United  States  in  the  territory  was  greater 
than  that  of  all  the  people  in  it.  The  nation 
was  proprietor  of  the  soil,  and  was  charged  with 
the  duty  of  protecting  a  long  line  of  frontier, 
where  the  people  who  were  subject  to  its  jurisdic- 
tion were  in  the  main  aliens  in  language  and 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  EARLY  RULERS.  147 

feeling,  and  in  sympathy  rather  with  the  people 
across  the  border  than  with  those  with  whom  by 
the  fortune  of  war  they  had  come  into  political 
association.  A  temporally  government  originating 
at  Washington  was,  therefore,  a  political  neces- 
sity ;  but  the  organic  act  provided  that  so  soon  as 
there  should  be  five  thousand  free  male  inhab- 
itants of  full  age  in  the  territory,  they  should  elect 
delegates  to  a  general  assembly,  who,  with  a  ter- 
ritorial council  of  five,  to  be  selected  by  Congress 
from  ten  names  nominated  to  it  by  the  general 
assembly,  should  constitute  the  legislative  body. 
The  legislature  would,  therefore,  be  representative 
of  the  people  in  both  houses,  but  the  veto  of  the 
governor  was  to  be  absolute. 

If  the  wisdom  of  the  president  in  his  appoint- 
ments had  been  equal  to  that  of  the  legislation, 
the  early  history  of  the  territory  would  have  been 
more  orderly,  and,  perhaps,  more  prosperous  also. 
But  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  singular  want  of  tact  and 
judgment,  sent  to  this  distant  frontier  territory 
as  rulers  for  its  rough  and  peculiar  population  a 
number  of  persons  who  were  not  only  ignorant  of 
this  part  of  the  country  and  of  its  people,  but 
were  without  practical  acquaintance  with  similar 
communities  elsewhere.  It  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected, therefore,  that  they  would  readily  and 
easily  come  into  sympathetic  and  cordial  relations 
with  the  people  they  were  to  govern.  Some  of 
them  also  had  personal  peculiarities  and  deficiencies 


148  MICHIGAN. 

which  would  render  entirely  improbable  a  success- 
ful and  orderly  administration  of  their  offices. 

General  William  Hull  of  Massachusetts  was  the 
selection  for  governor.  He  had  an  excellent  and 
well-deserved  reputation,  and  in  point  of  charac- 
ter and  standing  the  appointment  was  altogether 
suitable.  He  had  early  entered  upon  service  in 
the  War  for  Independence,  participating  in  many 
important  battles  with  credit,  and  continuing1  in 
the  service  until  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis. 
Steuben  had  selected  him  for  his  assistant  in  the 
work  of  army  reorganization,  and  when  the  war 
was  over,  and  Steuben 's  mission  to  obtain  the  sur- 
render of  the  western  posts  had  failed,  he  had 
himself  been  charged  with  a  similar  mission,  which 
also  proved  unsuccessful,  and  he  then  took  part  in 
the  suppression  of  Shays's  Rebellion.  In  1793 
he  was  again  sent  to  Canada;  this  time  to  bring 
to  the  attention  of  the  authorities  the  manner  in 
which  the  hostile  Indians  were  furnished  with  the 
supplies  that  enabled  them  to  continue  their  de- 
structive depredations.  Subsequently  he  traveled 
in  Europe  for  observation  and  mental  improve- 
ment, and  on  his  return  was  made  judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  his  native  state. 

This  highly  honorable  record  was  without  a 
stain,  and  that  of  his  whole  subsequent  life  would 
probably  have  been  equally  untarnished  and  en- 
viable had  he  declined  to  accept  the  appointment 
of  governor  of  this  territory  when  it  was  tendered 


HULL'S   CHARACTER.  149 

to  him.  He  was  at  this  time  fifty-two  years  of 
age  and  inclined  to  corpulency ;  he  had  all  his  life 
lived  in  the  smiles  of  public  favor,  and  his  do- 
mestic and  social  relations  were  agreeable ;  and 
had  he  been  made  the  executive  of  a  staid  and 
orderly  commonwealth,  with  associates  in  govern- 
ment of  similar  characteristics,  his  administration 
might  have  been  altogether  popular  and  success- 
ful. But  in  Michigan  he  found  uncongenial  peo- 
ple all  about  him,  and  it  soon  appeared  that 
he  was  somewhat*  lacking  in  the  persistent  self- 
assertion  necessary  to  make  the  rough  characters 
of  a  backwoods  settlement  recognize  and  accept  the 
fact  that  within  the  proper  limits  of  his  authority 
he  proposed  to  be  and  would  be  ruler  and  master. 
Had  the  other  territorial  officers  yielded  him  the 
deference  and  respect  which  was  due  to  his  char- 
acter and  station,  their  example  would,  in  all  prob- 
ability, have  been  followed  by  the  general  public, 
and  his  administration  might  then  have  had  a  fair 
measure  of  success.  But  the  governor  was  pecul- 
iarly unfortunate  in  having  in  one  of  the  judges 
a  person  of  characteristics  much  more  pronounced 
than  his  own,  and  with  not  only  the  power  but 
the  will,  as  subsequently  appeared,  to  embarrass 
and  embitter  his  whole  official  life.  This  was 
Augustus  B.  Woodward,  who  was  sent  on  from 
Washington  as  chief  justice. 

The  chief  justice  was  pronounced  by  one  of  his 
subsequent  associates  to  be  "a  wild  theorist,  fit 


150  MICHIGAN. 

only  to  extract  sunbeams  from  cucumbers ; "  but 
this  characterization  presents  only  one  side  of  his 
erratic  and  peculiar  nature.  He  was  a  theorist, 
but  not  a  mere  dreamer ;  his  ability  was  very  con- 
siderable, and,  in  some  respects,  very  substantial. 
In  doing  what  he  chose  to  do  he  was  perfectly 
fearless,  and  he  succeeded,  through  the  use  of  his 
official  authority,  in  dominating  public  affairs 
during  the  whole  period  of  Hull's  administration. 
He  was  as  eccentric  as  he  was  able,  and  his  auda- 
city kept  him  continually  in  the  public  eye,  and 
made  him,  until  the  war  came  on,  the  most  con- 
spicuous figure  in  territorial  affairs.  Mr.  Jefferson 
had  given  him  for  associates  Frederick  Bates  and 
John  Griffin,  both  Virginians ;  but  Bates  had 
already  been  in  the  territory  for  some  little  time 
as  an  official  of  the  land  office,  and  he  alone  of 
all  the  territorial  officers  possessed  the  important 
qualification  for  his  post,  —  that  he  knew  the  coun- 
try and  knew  its  people.  And  it  may  be  added 
here  that  he  alone  of  them  all  had  a  subsequent 
career  that  was  satisfactory  and  altogether  honor- 
able. He  was  not  long  in  discovering  that  his 
official  relations  were  to  be  unpleasant,  and  he  re- 
signed his  office  and  left  the  territory  for  con- 
spicuous public  service  in  Missouri.  Judge  Griffin 
remained  at  his  post ;  but  his  official  life  was  not 
a  happy  one,  and  years  afterwards  he  complained 
that  he  was  made  the  mere  drudge  of  the  chief 
justice  to  do  his  will. 


HULL'S  JOURNEY  TO  MICHIGAN.  151 

The  journey  of  Governor  Hull  to  take  possession 
of  his  government  was  well  calculated  to  impress 
him  with  its  exposed  condition,  and  with  its  vast 
distance  from  friendly  support  in  case  an  emer- 
gency should  arise  which  made  assistance  neces- 
sary. From  Albany  his  route  was  by  way  of 
Lake  Ontario,  which  he  traversed  in  boats  with  his 
family.  Reaching  Niagara  he  proceeded  thence 
to  Buffalo,  where  he  found  a  vessel  in  which  he 
could  take  more  comfortable  passage  to  Detroit. 
But  before  he  reached  the  lakes  he  had  left  civil- 
ization behind,  and  whether  he  turned  to  the  right 
hand  or  to  the  left  he  beheld  a  wilderness  still 
inhabited  by  savages.  To  the  north  of  the  lakes, 
too,  the  territory  was  the  property  of  Great  Britain, 
a  country  with  which  the  relations  of  the  United 
States  were  at  the  time  far  from  cordial.  It  was 
inevitable  that  the  governor  should  have  received, 
upon  his  long  and  tedious  journey,  impressions  of 
the  exposed  condition  of  the  territory  which  abided 
with  him  until  the  great  crisis  of  his  life  and 
helped  then  to  unman  him. 

But  the  circumstances  of  the  governor's  recep- 
tion at  Detroit  were  not  calculated  to  remove  un- 
pleasant impressions  or  to  give  augury  of  official 
ease  and  enjoyment.  It  is  not  improbable  that 
the  veteran  soldier  who  had  consented  to  take  up 
his  abode  in  the  far  interior  as  governor  of  the 
new-born  territory  expected  to  be  received  with 
acclamations,  and  to  make  triumphal  entry,  as 


152  MICHIGAN. 

St.  Clair  had  done,  into  his  capital ;  but  when  on 
the  first  day  of  July,  1805,  he  came  in  sight  of 
the  town  he  found  nothing  but  the  smoking  em- 
bers of  desolated  homes,  and  tents  set  up  here 
and  there  in  which  a  portion  of  the  people  had 
found  temporary  shelter.  'Hie  story  the  people 
had  to  tell  was  a  sad  one.  On  the  eleventh  of 
the  preceding  month  fire  had  broken  out  in  the 
densely  compacted  settlement,  and  it  had  spread 
right  and  left,  to  be  stayed  only  when  there  was 
nothing  left  for  it  to  consume.  Public  build- 
ings and  private  alike  were  gone ;  only  a  ware- 
house and  a  bakery  had  escaped  destruction.  The 
spectacle  was  disheartening.  Instead  of  finding 
his  people  well  housed  and  comfortably  circum- 
stanced, as  he  expected,  the  governor  found  them 
objects  of  charity,  living  in  their  canvas  habita- 
tions, or  provided  for  in  the  outside  settlements. 
A  beginning  had  been  made  of  putting  up  log- 
houses,  but  the  gloom  of  the  great  desolation  was 
still  upon  the  people,  and  it  could  not  immediately 
be  driven  away. 

Obviously  the  first  duty  of  the  new  officials  was 
to  do  what  should  lie  in  their  power  to  give  relief 
to  the  homeless  and  needy  people.  The  rebuilding 
of  the  town  must  be  aided,  and  the  people  must 
have  lots  upon  which  to  erect  their  habitations 
and  business  houses.  Fortunately,  in  providing 
for  their  relief  it  was  possible  to  convert  the  pres- 
ent calamity  into  a  permanent  blessing.  The  old 


MEASURES  FOR  RELIEF  OF  THE  PEOPLE.    153 

town  had  been  constructed  with  special  view  to 
protection  against  the  Indians ;  it  was  compact 
that  it  might  be  the  more  easily  fortified;  its 
streets  were  mere  lanes ;  it  was  too  crowded  for 
comfort,  for  health,  or  for  business.  Some  day  it 
would  have  become  necessary  to  plan  the  town 
anew,  and  to  make  .suitable  streets  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  buildings  at  great  expense  to  the 
public.  But  now  accident -had  removed  the  build- 
ings as  if  by  providential  design  ;  and  the  bare 
earth  invited  the  suitable  plan,  and  was  incum- 
bered  by  no  obstacles. 

In  seeking  relief  for  the  people,  the  governor 
and  the  chief  justice  found  themselves  able  to 
cooperate  ;  and  they  agreed  that  the  destruction 
of  improvements  presented  a  strong  case  for  the 
equitable  consideration  of  Congress.  Both  of  them 
took  the  long  journey  to  Washington  to  impress 
their  views  upon  the  national  legislature,  and 
their  success  was  reasonably  satisfactory.  Con- 
gress recognized  the  justice  and  policy  of  providing 
homesteads  for  the  sufferers  by  the  fire  ;  and  an 
act  was  passed  making  the  governor  and  judges  a 
land  board,  with  authority  to  lay  out  a  town,  and 
to  convey  a  lot  therein  to  every  person  over 
seventeen  years  of  age  who,  at  the  time  of  the 
fire,  had  owned  or  inhabited  a  house  in  the  old 
town.  This  enabled  them  all  to  become  free- 
holders, where  before  they  had  had  a  merely  tol- 
erated occupancy. 


154  MICfflGAN. 

But  the  efforts  on  behalf  of  the  settlers  were 
not  restricted  to  those  who  had  suffered  in  the 
destruction  of  the  town.  The  propriety  of  recog- 
nizing and  confirming  all  actual  possessions  was 
strongly  urged  upon  Congress,  and  with  such  suc- 
cess ti.at  under  proper  legislation  the  people  of 
the  outside  settlements  soon  became  owners  of 
the  legal  title  to  the  lands  they  had  occupied 
and  brought  under  cultivation,  and  were  thus 
encouraged  to  make  lasting  and  valuable  improve- 
ments. 

Next  to  looking  after  the  immediate  needs  of 
the  homeless  people,  the  preparation  of  a  code 
of  laws  demanded  the  attention  of  the  governor 
and  judges.  For  this  purpose  they  met  from  day 
to  day,  and  adopted  distinct  acts  on  different  sub- 
jects as  occasion  seemed  to  require.  The  chief 
justice  was  commonly  the  draftsman ;  and  the 
several  acts  were  printed  together,  and  in  popular 
speech  were  collectively  known  as  the  Woodward 
Code. 

The  plan  of  the  new  town  was  also  the  produc- 
tion of  the  chief  justice,  and  he  had  made  one  that 
was  his  pride  and  his  glory.  To  some  extent  it 
was  modeled  upon  that  of  the  national  capital ; 
and  though  he  succeeded  in  securing  its  adoption, 
it  was  the  subject  of  much  contemporaneous  ridi- 
cule, not  only  for  what  seemed  to  the  people  its 
whimsical  character,  b-ut  also  for  its  magnificent  dis- 
tances. It  had  its  Campus  Martius  and  its  Grand 


THE  CHIEF  JUSTICE'S  BANK.  155 

Circus,  with  broad  avenues  radiating  from  these 
into  the  woods,  —  avenues  which  the  fertile  imagi- 
nation of  its  author  saw,  in  the  near  future,  lined 
with  elegant  dwellings  and  stately  public  and 
private  edifices.  But  the  matter-of-fact  people  of 
the  day  saw  only  a  visionary  plan  for  an  immense 
metropolis  on  paper,  prepared  by  an  eccentric 
enthusiast  for  a  town  which  had  been  more  than 
a  hundred  years  in  attaining  the  proportions  of  a 
respectable  village  ;  and  which,  so  far  as  could  be 
seen,  had  nothing  in  immediate  prospect  calcu- 
lated to  give  its  growth  any  considerable  impetus. 
The  plan,  therefore,  was  ridiculed  while  it  was 
tolerated,  but  it  was  not  strictly  adhered  to,  and 
the  departures  from  it,  from  time  to  time,  an- 
noyed its  author,  and  were  a  frequent  incitement 
to  ill-temper  and  controversy. 

The  chief  justice  had  more  occasion  for  annoy- 
ance in  the  refusal  of  Congress  to  sanction  his 
scheme  for  a  great  bank.  He  had  planned  for  a 
bank  with  a  capital  of  four  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  Boston  parties  were  expected  to  furnish 
for  nominal  use  in  the  fur  trade.  So  confident 
were  he  and  his  associates  of  entire  success  in  the 
scheme,  that  a  bank  building  was  erected  and  all 
preparations  made  for  beginning  business  before 
the  charter  was  granted.  But  the  chief  justice 
was  at  this  time  the  effective  force  in  the  legis- 
lature :  it  was  only  necessary  for  him  to  draft  the 
bill  he  desired,  and  to  present  it  to  the  others  for 


156  MICHIGAN. 

their  signature.  The  bank  was  soon  in  operation, 
with  the  chief  justice  for  president ;  and  it  was 
charged  at  the  time  that  the  governor  was  con- 
cerned with  him  in  interest ;  but  this  was  denied, 
and  the  probability  seems  to  be  that  the  governor 
abandoned  a  purpose  which  he  had  once  formed 
to  that  effect. 

A  bank  in  the  vastness  of  its  pretensions  so  out 
of  proportion  to  the  insignificant  town  where*  it 
was  to  do  business,  and  having  the  chief  legislative 
and  judicial  officer  of  the  territory  for  its  manager, 
was  naturally  the  subject  of  unfavorable  criticism, 
and  the  parties  concerned  were  severely  attacked 
in  such  newspapers  as  circulated  in  the  territory. 
Congress  refused  to  sanction  the  scheme,  and  the 
charter  became  of  no  force ;  but  the  bank,  never- 
theless, went  on  as  before,  until,  in  September, 
1808,  in  the  absence  of  the  chief  justice  from  the 
territory,  the  other  members  of  the  legislature 
summoned  courage  to  pass  an  act  denouncing 
severe  penalties  upon  unauthorized  banking.  The 
bank  officers  petitioned  for  exemption  from  these 
penalties,  but  were  refused. 

From  this  time  the  governor  and  the  chief 
justice  were  in  avowed  hostility  ;  and  as  one  of  the 
associate  judges  took  sides  with  the  governor  and 
the  other  against  him,  the  meetings  of  the  four, 
•whether  as  a  land  board  or  as  a  legislature,  were 
occasions  for  undignified  and  angry  contests  and 
dissensions  which  were  well  calculated  to  bring 


THE  CHIEF  JUSTICE'S  ARISTOCRACY.          157 

public  authority  into  contempt.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  the  governor  was  wanting  in  proper 
observance  of  the  proprieties  of  his  station,  or  of 
the  rules  of  law ;  but  his  antagonist  was  less 
scrupulous,  and  by  his  very  audacity  not  only  for 
th  '  most  part  carried  his  points,  but  also  carried 
with  him  an  apparent  public  sentiment.  He  was 
ingenious  in  finding  ways  to  annoy  and  mortify 
the  governor,  and  his  own  misbehavior  furnished 

O 

opportunities  when  nothing  else  did.  He  did  not 
hesitate,  on  one  occasion,  to  stretch  his  prerogative 
to  the  extent  of  fining  a  citizen  as  for  contempt 
of  court  for  offensive  language  to  himself  in  the 
public  street,  —  an  outrage  on  the  law  which  the 
governor  undertook  to  redress  by  the  issue  of  a 
pardon.  But  the  grand  jury  of  the  territory  made 
a  presentment  denying  that  the  governor  pos- 
sessed the  power  of  pardon,  and  censuring  his 
usurpation  ;  and  the  chief  justice,  thereupon,  not 
only  treated  the  pardon  as  void,  but  proceeded  to 
enforce  his  own  illegal  judgment.  What  was 
more  extraordinary  still,  the  grand  jury  at  the 
instigation  of  the  chief  justice  presented  as  un- 
necessary and  a  "  nuisance "  certain  legislation 
which  had  been  adopted  when  that  functionary  was 
absent.  Fortified  by  this  presentment  the  chief 
justice  and  his  echo  in  the  court  treated  the  offen- 
sive legislation  as  a  nullity.  Evidently  the  gov- 
ernor had  more  than  a  match  in  his  daring  and 
unscrupulous  antagonist. 


158  MICHIGAN. 

But  other  causes  were  troubling  the  governor 
also.  He  was  Indian  agent  as  well  as  executive  ; 
and  he  had  come  to  the  territory  with  some  idea 
that  in  his  capacity  of  agent  he  might  be  of  signal 
service,  both  to  the  territory  and  to  the  Indians. 
For  the  benefit  of  the  territory  he  proposed  to 
take  steps  for  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian 
title  as  rapidly  as  it  might  be  accomplished  with- 
out causing  discontent  to  the  tribes.  To  benefit 
the  Indians  he  proposed  to  have  them  taught 
agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts.  He  soon  per- 
ceived, however,  that  plans  made  by  a  New  Eng- 
land fireside  for  the  amelioration  of  the  aboriginal 
condition  lacked  fitness  of  adaptation  to  circum- 
stances when  presented  for  actual  test,  and  that 
civilized  agriculture  and  mechanic,  arts  were  the 
last  things  the  savages  cared  to  learn.  We  hear 
nothing  of  his  philanthropic  purposes  after  he 
came  to  his  government ;  and  when  he  opened  ne- 
gotiations for  cessions  of  territory,  he  discovered 
an  entire  absence  of  a  disposition  to  respond  fa- 
vorably. On  the  contrary  he  found  the  opposition 
decided  and  persistent.  The  Indians  about  Mack- 
inaw refused  to  attend  any  council,  declaring  that 
if  their  brothers  below  were  fools  enough  to  throw 
away  their  lands,  they  might  do  so;  but  for  them- 
selves they  were  determined  that  the  governor 
must  not  think  of  taking  away  one  hair's  breadth 
of  their  lands,  for  they  had  not  so  much  to  spare. 
The  governor  did  succeed,  however,  in  obtain- 


THE  INDIANS  IN  CONTACT    WITH  THE  WHITES.  159 

ing,  in  1807,  a  cession  of  all  that  portion  of  the 
territory  not  before  ceded  which  was  bounded  on 
the  west  by  the  principal  meridian,  and  extended 
on  the  north  to  the  line  of  White  Rock  in  Lake 
Huron. 

This  was  a  very  valuable  acquisition ;  and  no 
complaint  has  reached  us  of  any  overreaching  or 
other  unfairness  on  the  part  of  the  governor  in 
obtaining  it.  But  ever  since  their  encounter  with 
Wayne,  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Northwest  had 
been  rapidly  sinking  into  degradation,  and  the 
most  of  them  no  longer  exercised  much  freedom 
of  will.  In  their  intercourse  with  white  people 
they  were  constantly  brought  in  contact  with  all 
that  was  low  and  base  in  civilized  life,  with  the 
inevitable  result  of  adding  to  their  native  vices 
many  that  were  new  and  in  their  effects  more 
destructive  than  those  they  were  born  to.  When 
not  on  the  war-path,  or  on  their  great  hunts,  they 
were  easily  mastered  by  their  passion  for  intox- 
icating drinks  ;  and  several  classes  of  white  people 
were  ready  to  cater  to  this  passion  for  selfish  pur- 
poses of  their  own.  It  was  often  the  case  that  a 
treaty  of  cession  by  the  Indians  was  an  arrange- 
ment which  scheming  persons  among  them  had 
contrived  to  bring  about  for  their  own  interest, 
and  which  the  Indians  were  made  to  conclude 
with  little  volition  of  their  own.  Reservations  in 
the  nature  of  grants  for  the  benefit  of  traders  and 
interpreters  and  their  half-breeds  came  to  be 


160  MICHIGAN. 

a  common  feature  in  such  treaties ;  and  though 
these  were  always  nominally  made  at  the  desire 
of  the  Indians,  the  management  which  had  created 
the  desire  was  not  often  such  as  would  bear  the 
light.  What  was  snid  of  an  Indian  treaty  a  little 
later  was  already  coming  to  be  true.  "  An  Indian 
treaty  now  lies  chiefly  between  the  various  traders, 
agents,  creditors,  and  half-breeds  of  the  tribes, 
on  whom  custom  and  necessity  have  made  iJie 
degraded  chiefs  dependent,  and  the  government 
agents.  When  the  former  have  seen  matters  so 
far  arranged  that  their  self-interest  and  various 
schemes  and  claims  are  likely  to  be  fulfilled,  and 
allowed  to  their  hearts'  content,  the  silent  ac- 
quiescence of  the  Indians  follows  of  course  ;  and 
till  this  is  the  case  the  treaty  can  never  be  am- 
icably effected." l 

But  the  governor,  by  the  time  his  treaty  was 
concluded,  saw  plain  indications  that  trouble  was 
brewing.  He  heard  well  -  authenticated  rumors 
that  a  prophet  was  among  the  Indians  throughout 
all  the  West,  practicing  his  arts  and  incantations, 
and  urging  in  the  name  of  the  Great  Spirit,  —  for 
whom  he  assumed  to  speak,  —  that  they  should 
league  themselves  together  for  protection  against 
the  white  men.  A  great  chieftain  was  also  com- 
ing upon  the  stage,  who  perceived  very  clearly 
that  the  system  pursued  by  the  United  States  was 
"  a  mighty  water  ready  to  overflow  his  people ;  " 
1  Blanchard's  Discoveries  and  Conquests  in  the  Northwest,  402. 


TECDMSEH'S  POLICY.  161 

and  he  was  laboring  earnestly  among  the  tribes  in 
the  effort  to  form  a  confederacy  "  to  prevent  any 
tribe  from  selling  land  without  the  consent  of 
the  others."  This  was  "  the  dam  he  was  erect- 
ing to  resist  this  mighty  water."  The  scheme  of 
Tecumseh,  even  though  it  had  been  peacefully 
intended,  must  necessarily  have  excited  alarm 
among  the  white  people;  for  it  sprang  from  a 
feeling  of  antagonism  to  their  encroachments,  and 
must  depend  for  its  success  upon  the  prevalence 
of  unfriendly  sentiments  among  the  tribes.  That 
such  sentiments  were  already  spreading  was  per- 
ceived by  those  who  were  brought  in  contact., 
officially  or  otherwise,  with  the  Indians  ;  and  the 
tendency  in  that  direction  increased  rapidly  as 
the  relations  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  became  unsettled  and  threatening.  There 
had  never  been  any  complete  sundering  of  ties 
between  the  Indians  of  the  Northwest  and  their 
old  employers ;  they  were  still  to  some  extent 
pensioners  upon  Great  Britain  for  services  during 
the  Revolutionary  War;  and  as  they  had  nothing 
to  fear  from  British  aggression,  there  were  no 
suspicions  to  weaken  the  former  friendship.  If 
war  broke  out  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  the  Indians  were  likely  to  take  the 
part  of  their  old  allies;  and  if  the  Indians  on 
their  part  felt  inclined  to  war,  they  naturally 
hoped  for  the  assistance  of  the  nation  which  they 

plainly  perceived  had  no  friendly  feeling  for  the 
11 


162  MICHIGAN. 

Americans.  What  Governor  Hull  saw  very  dis- 
tinctly was  that  in  the  event  of  war  the  little 
settlement  on  the  frontier  of  civilization,  whose 
destinies  were  committed  to  his  care,  would  be 
encompassed  by  foes  so  numerous  and  so  blood- 
thirsty that  they  might  overwhelm  and  destroy 
it  before  the  distant  assistance  upon  which  ex- 
clusively he  must  depend  could  be  made  effective. 
Such  was  the  state  of  affaire  when  the  "  d»m  " 
which  Tecumseh  had  arranged  broke  away  under 
premature  pressure  with  such  destructive  force 
in  the  battle  of  the  Tippecanoe.  John  Randolph 
truthfully  said :  "  It  was  our  own  thirst  for  terri- 
tory, our  own  want  of  moderation  that  had  driven 
these  sons  of  nature  to  desperation  of  which  we 
felt  the  effects." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WAK,   AND   THE   CONQUEST   AND   RECONQTJEST 
OF  MICHIGAN. 

IN  February,  1812,  Governor  Hull  was  in  Wash- 
ington,  and  reports  which  gave  him  great  concern 
were  continually  coming  to  him  of  hostile  conduct 
on  the  part  of  the  Indians.  For  a  long  time  the 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  had  been  growing  more  and  more  critical ; 
and  if,  as  there  was  every  reason  to  fear,  war 
should  be  declared,  no  part  of  the  country  was  so 
exposed  to  attack  or  so  difficult  of  defense  as  the 
territory  of  which  he  was  governor.  The  people 
in  a  petition  to  Congress  the  preceding  December 
had  justly  said  that  the  whole  territory  was  a 
double  frontier,  with  British  on  one  side  and 
Indians  on  the  other,  and  they  prayed  for  further 
protection  of  military  posts  and  for  an  additional 
force  at  Detroit.  There  was  so  little  agriculture 
in  the  territory  that  the  garrison  they  already 
had  at  Detroit  must  be  dependent  for  supplies  in 
part  at  least  upon  Ohio  ;  and  a  wilderness  of  two 
hundred  miles  separated  that  frontier  post  from 
the  Ohio  settlements.  Through  this  wilderness 


164  MICHIGAN. 

by  difficult  and  exposed  roads  the  supplies  must 
be  transported  and  reinforcements  sent  forward, 
unless  the  Americans  should  secure  command  \)f 
Lake  Erie  and  establish  a  base  of  operations 
upon  it. 

At  this  time  the  British  had  complete  control  of 
the  lake  and  its  connecting  waters.  Three  years 
before  the  governor  had  suggested  to  the  ad- 
ministration the  expediency  of  constructing  armed 
vessels  upon  Lake  Erie  as  a  necessary  protection 
to  communication  with  the  territory  ;  and  in  1811 
he  returned  to  the  subject,  and  gave  hia  views 
with  considerable  fullness.  After  a  careful  review 
of  the  situation,  he  summed  up  as  follows :  — 

"  This,  then,  appears  to  he  the  plain  state  of  the  case. 
The  British  have  a  regular  force  equal  to  ours.  The 
province  of  Upper  Canada  has  on  its  rolls  a  militia  of 
twenty  to  one  against  us.  In  addition  to  this  there  can 
be  but  little  doubt  but  a  large  proportion  of  the  savages 
will  join  them.  What  then  will  be  the  situation  of  this 
part  of  the  country  ?  Separated  from  the  states  by  an 
extensive  wilderness  which  will  be  filled  wfth  savages  to 
prevent  any  succor,  our  water  communications  entirely 
obstructed  by  the  British  armed  vessels  on  Lake  Erie, 
we  shall  have  no  other  resource  for  defense  but  the 
small  garrisons  and  feeble  population  of  the  territory. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  is  easy  to  foresee  what 
will  be  the  fate  of  this  country.  ...  If  there  is  a  pros- 
pect of  war  with  England,  what  measures  are  most 
expedient  ?  In  my  opinion  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Pre- 
pare a  naval  force  on  Lake  Erie  superior  to  the  British, 
and  sufficient  to  preserve  your  communications." 


ILLUSIONS  REGARDING   CANADA.  165 

And  once  more  he  returned  to  the  subject  m 
the  spring  of  1812,  but  every  time  without  avail. 

There  were  not  wanting  at  that  day  able  men 
in  Congress  and  out  of  it  who  ridiculed  the  sug- 
gestion that  Canada  could  possibly  be  a  source  of 
serious  danger  to  the  United  States.  So  far  from 
indulging  in  fears  of  that  sort,  they  looked  upon 
Canada  as  a  source  of  weakness  to  the  British 
government.  The  people  of  Canada,  as  they  con- 
ceived, were  a  people  held  in  unwilling  subjection 
by  a  foreign  power ;  and  it  was  only  necessary  to 
raise  the  flag  of  liberty  and  offer  them  free  insti- 
tutions, and  they  would  be  found  flocking  with 
alaci-ity  to  accept  the  offer.  Mr.  Clay,  who  should 
have  known  better,  was  one  of  this  sanguine  class. 
"  We  can  take  Canada  without  soldiers,"  he  de- 
clared. "  We  have  only  to  send  officers  into  the 
province,  and  the  people,  disaffected  towards  their 
own  government,  will  rally  round  our  standard. 
...  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  we  shall  not  succeed 
in  our  enterprise  against  the  enemy's  provinces. 
We  have  the  Canadas  as  much  under  our  com- 
mand as  Great  Britain  has  the  ocean,  and  the 
way  to  conquer  her  on  the  ocean  is  to  drive  her 
from  the  land.  I  am  not  for  stopping  at  Quebec 
or  anywhere  else,  but  I  would  take  the  whole  con- 
tinent from  them  and  ask  no  favors."  Mr.  Clay  had 
evidently  forgotten  the  history  of  Quebec  in  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  repulse  of  the  brave 
Montgomery  before  its  frowning  citadel.  Discon- 


166  MICHIGAN. 

tent  in  Canada  there  undoubtedly  had  been  under 
the  administration  of  Governor-General  Craig, 
who  was  obnoxious  to  Canadians  of  French  de- 
scent ;  but  Craig  had  been  succeeded  by  Sir  George 
Prevost,  an  able  man  who  took  every  pains  to 
make  a  good  impression  upon  the  people,  and  to 
remove  all  ground  of  just  complaint.  The  French 
inhabitants,  more  than  willing  to  be  favorably  re- 
garded by  their  rulers,  responded  readily  to  the 
governor's  pacific  advances,  and  from  all  "sides 
there  is  concurrent  testimony  that  in  the  prepa- 
rations for  anticipated  war  the  Canadians  were 
more  active  and  also  more  unanimous  than  were 
the  Americans.  John  Randolph  was,  therefore, 
abundantly  justified  by  the  facts  when  he  ridi- 
culed the  anticipated  "  holiday  campaign,"  in 
which  there  was  to  be  "no  expense  of  blood  or 
treasure  on  our  part,"  but  Canada  was  "to  con- 
quer herself,"  **  to  be  subdued  by  the  principle  of 
fraternity."  But  Mr.  Clay's  delusion  was  the 
common  one,  and  nothing  in  his  utterances  ap- 
peared unreasonable  to  the  dominant  war  party  of 
the  day.  The  journals  of  public  opinion  and  the 
speeches  of  public  men  in  Congress  and  elsewhere 
furnish  abundant  proof  of  a  general  expectation 
that  Canada  in  case  of  war  would  be  easily  con- 
quered with  the  aid  of  large  numbers  of  its  own 
people.  But  Governor  Hull,  who  better  knew  the 
condition  of  things  in  Canada  than  did  most  of 
his  contemporaries,  indulged  in  no  such  expecta- 
tion. 


THE  FATAL  BLUNDER.  167 

While  in  Washington  the  governor  was  tendered 
the  command  of  a  force,  consisting  in  the  main  of 
Ohio  militia,  which  it  was  proposed  to  send  to 
Michigan  for  such  service  as  might  be  required 
of  it.  He  declined  the  appointment,  but  subse- 
quently, after  Colonel  Kingsbury,  who  had  been 
assigned  to  the  command  had  been  disabled  by 
sickness  from  taking  it,  he  accepted,  though  with 
reluctance ;  and  at  Dayton,  on  May  25th,  three 
regiments  of  militia,  commanded  respectively  by 
Colonels  McArthur,  Cass,  and  Findlay,  and  num- 
bering twelve  hundred  men,  were  placed  under 
his  command.  Three  hundred  regulars  afterwards 
joined  them,  and  with  the  whole  body  General 
Hull  marched  to  the  Rapids  of  the  Maurnee, 
which  he  reached  at  the  end  of  June.  From  Ur- 
bana,  then  a  frontier  town,  a  road  had  to  be  cut 
through  the  wilderness,  and  the  labor  was  very 
great  and  the  progress  necessarily  slow. 

The  government  made  a  blunder  in  tendering 
the  command  of  this  force  to  Hull,  and  he  on  his 
part  made  if  possible  a  greater  blunder  in  ac- 
cepting it.  His  opinion  that  the  control  of  the 
lakes  was  necessary  to  the  protection  of  his  posts 
had  been  fully  disclosed ;  and  not  having  that 
control  he  was,  according  to  his  own  view,  if  war 
should  break  out,  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  A 
courageous  and  vigorous  campaign,  and  especially 
an  aggressive  campaign,  it  was  idle  to  expect 
under  such  leadership:  he  was  conquered  by  his 


168  MICHIGAN. 

own  misgivings  before  he  moved  ;  and  nothing 
but  great  and  to  him  unexpected  good  fortune  at 
the  outset  could  have  relieved  him  of  his  dismal 
forebodings  and  inspired  him  with  the  necessary 
courage  for  a  campaign  so  far  from  support.  In- 
stead of  experiencing  any  such  good  fortune  he 
was  made  the  victim  of  another  blunder,  the  con- 
sequences of  which  were  visited  upon  him  with 
merciless  severity  when  they  culminated  in  the 
disaster  which  finally  overtook  his  force. 

On  July  1st  General  Hull  procured  a  small  ves- 
sel, upon  which  he  loaded  his  baggage,  hospital 
stores,  and  the  invalids  of  his  army,  and  sent  it 
forward  from  the  Rapids  to  Detroit.  With  the 
baggage  he  also  sent  important  papers  containing 
full  information  respecting  the  force  under  his 
command.  There  would  have  been  nothing  unsafe 
or  wanting  in  prudence  in  this  proceeding  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  and  General  Hull  might 
claim  with  some  plausibility  that  he  was  aware  of 
no  circumstances  which  could  render  it  improper 
or  imprudent.  But  as  the  probability  that  war 
might  arise  was  the  only  reason  for  placing  him  at 
the  head  of  a  military  force,  and  as  the  vessel 
could  not  reach  Detroit  without  passing  what  in 
the  event  of  war  would  be  a  hostile  fort,  a  more 
cautious  man  would  not  have  been  likely  to  expose 
his  papers  to  unnecessary  risks  under  such  circum- 
stances. What  actually  happened,  however,  he 
had  no  reason  to  anticipate,  for  the  department  at 


NEGLIGENCE  AT   WASHINGTON.  169 

Washington  was  gnilty  of  negligence  so  gross  as 
to  be  little  less  than  criminal. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  the  preceding  month  Con- 
gress had  declared  war  against  Great  Britain.  As 
Hull  was  in  command  of  a  military  force  marching 
towards  an  exposed  "  double  frontier,"  the  im- 
portance of  his  receiving  the  earliest  possible  in- 
formation was  so  obvious  and  so  imperative  that 
it  would  seem  impossible  it  should  be  overlooked 
or  neglected  by  those  in  authority.  But  this, 
through  gross  and  most  unaccountable  mismanage- 
ment in  the  war  department,  was  precisely  what 
happened.  A  communication  from  the  secretary 
of  war  notifying  General  Hull  that  war  had  been 
declared,  instead  of  being  sent  with  expedition  by 
special  messenger,  was  intrusted,  as  far  as  Cleve- 
land, to  the  slow-going  mail  of  the  day,  and  only 
reached  the  general  on  the  second  of  July.  An- 
other communication  from  the  same  office,  of  com- 
paratively little  importance,  sent  out  at  an  earlier 
hour  of  the  same  day  by  special  messenger,  had 
come  to  hand  eight  days  earlier.  British  interests 
had  been  looked  after  with  more  vigilance,  and  the 
authorities  in  Canada  were  notified  of  the  state  of 
war  with  the  utmost  promptness.  The  immediate 
and  very  natural  consequence  was  that  the  vessel 
which  Hull  had  sent  forward  from  the  Rapids  was 
seized  when  passing  the  British  post  of  Maiden, 
the  astonished  crew  receiving  their  first  notifica- 
tion that  hostilities  existed  from  the  demand  made 
for  their  surrender. 


170  MICHIGAN. 

But  this  capture  of  the  general's  baggage  and 
papers  was  not  the  only  injurious  consequence  of 
the  criminal  neglect  of  the  war  department.  The 
secretary,  in  communicating  to  him  so  leisurely 
the  fact  that  war  had  been  declared,  had  appar- 
ently overlooked  altogether  the  exposed  post  of 
Mackinaw,  which  from  its  situation  and  sur- 
roundings would  be  liable  to  immediate  and  over- 
whelming assault,  unless  at  once  reinforced  and 
strengthened.  He  assumed  that  the  general 
might  be  able  at  once  to  take  the  offensive,  and 
suggested  the  capture  of  Maiden,  and  an  exten- 
sion of  conquests  as  circumstances  might  seem  to 
justify.  General  Hull  on  receiving  the  communi- 
cation immediately  pushed  forward  to  Detroit. 
But  the  British  authorities  had  lost  no  time  in 
communicating  the  declaration  of  war  to  the  offi- 
cer in  command  on  the  island  of  St.  Joseph  ;  and 
that  officer,  though  his  own  force  was  insignificant, 
had  experienced  no  difficulty  in  collecting,  within 
the  short  space  of  eight  days,  by  the  aid  of  British 
fur  companies  and  the  friendly  Indians,  a  force 
of  a  thousand  men.  With  this  force  on  July  16th 
he  started  to  reduce  Mackinaw,  and  landing  in 
the  night-time,  and  taking  up  a  position  command- 
ing the  fort,  he  was  able  in  the  morning  to  an- 
nounce his  presence  at  the  cannon's  mouth.  The 
garrison  consisted  of  but  fifty-seven  effective  men, 
and  had  no  alternative  but  that  of  surrender. 

The  possession  of  Mackinaw  as  a  means  of  con- 


Til',:  BRITISH  CONTROL   OF  LAKE  ERIE.       171 

trol  over  the  Indians  inhabiting  that  part  of  the 
country  was  at  this  time  of  the  very  highest  im- 
portance. Nothing  but  a  show  of  force  held 
those  Indians  in  a  neutral  position,  and  not  even 
this  remained  when  Mackinaw  was  lost.  The  cir- 
cumstances of  the  loss,  also,  were  such  as  to  bring 
the  American  authorities  into  contempt  among  the 
savage  tribes.  The  prestige  of  success  was  now 
with  the  British,  and  such  motives  as  had  tended 
to  restrain  the  savages  from  gratifying  their  in- 
clinations to  take  arms  in  the  British  service  were 
gone.  They  were  emboldened  also  to  expect  an 
easy  and  speedy  success  over  Hull;  and  as  a  con- 
sequence the  woods  about  Detroit  and  other  settle- 
ments in  Michigan  were  swarming  with  hostile 
savages,  before  there  had  been  opportunity  to  take 
precautionary  measures  for  protection. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  fact  in  the  ex- 
isting situation  was  that  which  Hull  had  endeav- 
ored to  convince  the  administration  must  control ; 
namely,  that  the  British  had  undisputed  mastery 
of  Lake  Erie.  While  they  held  command  of  that 
lake,  Hull's  communications  were  at  their  mercy. 
Such  road  as  then  existed  between  Detroit  and 
the  Ohio  settlements  was  poor  at  the  best,  and  at 
times  almost  impassable.  It  followed  along  the 
river  and  the  western  end  of  the  lake  to  the 
Rapids  of  the  Maumee ;  and  from  the  post  of 
Maiden  it  was  so  easy  at  any  time  to  throw  a  Brit- 
ish force  upon  it,  that  a  strong  military  convoy 


172  MICHIGAN. 

was  a  necessity  whenever  supplies  were  to  be  sent. 
For  the  defense  of  the  communications  a  consider- 
able force  wns  therefore  required  beyond  what 
would  otherwise  be  needed  for  the  protection  of 
Detroit ;  but  no  force  could  make  them  entirely 
secure  against  sudden  and  disastrous  assaults.  It 
is  not  likely  that  Hull,  in  this  condition  of  affairs, 
saw  anything  to  change  his  previous  opinion  that 
control  of  the  lake  must  be  secured,  or  Detroit 
sooner  or  later  must  fall.  — 

But  Hull  very  well  knew  it  was  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  department  and  of  the  country  that 
he  would  immediately  commence  operations  to 
reduce  a  province  which  was  supposed  to  be  ready 
to  fall  into  his  hands.  He  therefore  crossed  the 
river  into  Canada  on  the  12th  of  July,  dislodg- 
ing and  scattering  a  small  force  which  had  col- 
lected at  Sandwich.  He  also  immediately,  in  pur- 
suance of  the  policy  of  "  fraternity  "  which  Mr. 
Randolph  had  so  pointedly  ridiculed,  issued  a 
proclamation  to  the  Canadians  in  which  he  ten- 
dered them  "  the  invaluable  blessings  of  civil, 
political,  and  religious  liberty,  and  their  necessary 
result,  individual  and  general  prosperity."  De- 
tachments from  his  army  pushed  out  into  the  coun- 
try and  secured  some  provisions,  and  one  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Cass  took  possession  of 
the  bridge  over  Aux  Canards  in  the  direction  of 
Maiden.  The  army  at  the  time  was  eager  to  at- 
tack Maiden,  but  the  opinion  of  General  Hull  was 


CRITICAL  POSITION  OF  BULL.  173 

against  it.  A  council  of  war,  when  the  river  was 
first  crossed,  had  decided  against  an  immediate 
attack,  and  though  the  army  had  since  received 
an  important  supply  of  field  artillery,  the  com- 
mander did  not  believe  an  attack  would  be  pru- 
dent. Meantime  his  supply  of  provisions,  which 
was  not  very  abundant  at  the  outset,  was  rapidly 
diminishing,  and  his  alarm  was  excited  on  that 
score.  Learning  that  a  company  of  Ohio  troops 
was  at  Frenchtown  with  provisions  for  his  relief, 
he  detached  Major  Van  Home  with  two  hundred 
men  to  escort  them  to  Detroit,  but  the  officer  in 
command  at  Maiden  had  early  information  of  the 
movement,  and  a  small  force  was  sent  across  the 
river  in  the  night,  which  fell  upon  Van  Horne  and 
totally  routed  him.  Here  was  new' cause  of  anxi- 
ety to  General  Hull,  and  very  striking  evidence 
that  his  previous  fears  were  not  groundless. 

The  calamity  to  Van  Horne  was  followed  by 
information  from  Niagara  which  increased  his  un- 
easiness to  such  an  extent  as  to  impress  him  that 
his  position  in  Canada  was  critical.  He  now 
learned  that  the  British  had  sent  reinforcements 
to  Maiden,  and  that  others  were  on  their  way ; 
that  their  movements  indicated  an  intended  attack 
upon  him,  and  that  he  could  expect  no  diversion 
at  Niagara  in  his  favor.  Impressed  by  this  infor- 
mation with  a  sense  of  immediate  danger,  the 
general,  without  counseling  with  his  officers,  on 
the  night  of  August  Tth  recrossed  the  river  with 


174  MICHIGAN. 

his  whole  army  to  Detroit.  The  movement  had 
all  the  appearance  of  a  flight  under  a  panic,  and 
was  generally  condemned  by  subordinate  officers. 

The  reason  why  Hull  was  to  expect  no  diversion 
from  Niagara  in  his  behalf  was  that  General  Dear- 
born, who  was  in  command  of  the  American  forces 
at  that  point,  had  entered  into  an  armistice  with 
Sir  George  Prev.ost,  the  British  commander  at 
Queenstown,  whereby  his  hands  were  tied  from 
rendering  General  Hull  any  assistance.  Having 
hurried  off  to  Maiden  a  considerable  force  under 
General  Brock,  Sir  George  had  the  address  to  se- 
cure the  assent  of  General  Dearborn  to  an  armis- 
tice, whereby  it  was  agreed  that  the  forces  opposing 
each  other  on  the  Niagara  should  act  on  the  defen- 
sive only ;  thus  protecting  his  own  depleted  force 
by  this  stratagem,  while  Hull  was  left  to  his  own 
resources  and  to  such  aid  as  an  administration  of 
phenomenal  inefficiency  would  be  likely  to  render 
him.  The  armistice  was  subject  to  disapproval 
at  Washington,  but  the  mischief  which  the  British 
commander  intended  was  accomplished  before  the 
disapproval  by  the  government  could  be  notified. 

Immediately  on  recrossing  the  river  Hull  de- 
tached Colonel  Miller  with  six  hundred  men  to 
do  what  Van  Home  had  failed  to  accomplish, 
namely,  to  open  communications  and  bring  for- 
ward supplies  from  Frenchtown.  At  Monguagon 
a  force  of  British  and  Indians  was  found  in- 
trenched, and  this  was  attacked  and  routed.  A 


NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  SURRENDER.  175 

severe  rain-storm  coming  on,  and  the  rations  prov- 
ing to  be  lost  or  destroyed,  the  detachment  was 
ordered  back  to  Detroit,  and  another  sent  out 
under  McArthur  and  Cass,  by  a  route  farther 
back  from  the  river.  This  was  on  August  14th. 
On  the  next  day  General  Brock  appeared  at  Sand- 
wich with  a  force  which  lie  reports  at  1,330,  and 
sent  a  demand  to  General  Hull  for  a  surrender. 
This  being  refused  he  opened  fire,  but  with  little 
effect.  On  the  morning  of  the  16th  he  crossed 
the  river  at  Springwells,  in  plain  sight  of  the  fort 
and  without  opposition,  and  renewed  his  demand 
for  surrender.  Hull,  whose  effective  force  then  at 
the  fort  was  rated  by  Cass  at  1,060,  but  by  himself 
at  much  less,  immediately  entered  into  negotia- 
tions for  surrender,  stipulating  only  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  p30ple  and  of  private  property,  and 
for  the  parole  of  the  state  troops  which  had  been 
sent  to  his  assistance,  but  were  not  yet  arrived. 
The  forces  of  McArthur  and  Cass  were  included 
in  the  stipulation,  but"  the  fiery  spirit  of  Cass  could 
not  brook  the  indignity,  and  he  broke  his  sword 
rather  than  surrender  it.  From  all  sides  the  con- 
curring testimony  is  abundant  that  the  army 
under  Hull,  confident  in  its  ability  to  repel  the 
British  assault-,  was  awaiting  the  attack  in  good 
spirits  when  the  order  to  haul  down  the  American 
flag  was  given.  They  had  the  mortification  to  see 
the  flag  lowered  without  a  blow  in  its  defense  ; 
and  with  Detroit  all  Michigan  passed  under  Brit- 
ish control. 


176  MICHIGAN. 

The  indignation  of  the  army  at  what  seemed  to 
them  a  pusillanimous  surrender  was  intense,  and  its 
expression  found  an  answering  echo  in  every  part 
of  the  country.  Great  things  had  been  expected 
of  this  army<  and  the  ambitious  colonels  of  regi- 
ments had  anticipated  nothing  so  little  as  a  result 
inglorious  to  American  arms.  The  first  sugges- 
tion to  thousands  of  minds  was  that  Hull,  from 
some  corrupt  motive,  must  purposely  and  treason- 
ably have  betrayed  his  army.  He  was  actually 
put  on  trial  on  a  charge  of  treason,  coupled  with 
others  of  cowardice  and  criminal  neglect  of  duty, 
before  a  court-martial  of  which  General  Dearborn 
was  president ;  and  though  acquitted  of  the  most 
serious  charge,  he  was  convicted  of  the  others, 
and  sentenced  to  be  shot  to  death.  The  president 
approved  the  conviction,  but  in  consideration  of 
former  meritorious  services  remitted  the  penalty. 

When  time  had  softened  the  asperities  which 
the  surrender  evoked,  General  Hull  appealed  from 
this  conviction  to  the  judgment  of  his  contempora- 
ries, basing  his  defense  upon  the  following  propo- 
sitions. First:  That  his  army  was  cut  off  from 
supplies  with  no  adequate  means  of  opening  com- 
munications, and  that  so  situated  it  must  inevita- 
bly fall.  Second  :  That  in  his  actual  situation  to 
fight  would  have  been  a  useless  expenditure  of 
life,  and  would  unnecessarily  have  exposed  the 
inhabitants  of  the  territory  to  Indian  hostilities. 
Third :  That  the  situation  was  not  his  own  fault, 


HULL'S  FALSE  STEP.  177 

but  was  in  part  the  fault  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, and  of  General  Dearborn,  and  in  part  of 
circumstances  for  which  perhaps  no  one  was  re- 
sponsible. Fourth:  That  his  force  at  the  time 
was  much  inferior  to  that  of  General  Brock ; 
and  Fifth :  That  his  provisions  were  so  nearly  ex- 
hausted that  surrender  for  that  reason  would  soon 
have  been  inevitable  even  if  his  force  had  been 
adequate.  The  judgment  of  the  country  has  not 
acquitted  Hull  of  fault.  That  his  effective  force 
was  smaller  than  that  of  General  Brock  seems 
probable.  The  latter  in  his  official  report  stated 
the  forces  captured  at  2,500 ;  a  gross  exaggeration, 
which  must  have  been  intended  to  magnify  his 
success  beyond  its  true  proportions.  The  same 
motive  might  have  led  him,  and  possibly  did,  to 
understate  his  own  force.  And  the  situation  was 
such  that  while  Brock  might  expect  accessions 
from  Indians  and  militia,  Hull  could  look  for  none 
immediately  from  any  source. 

But  armies  have  often,  under  far  more  disad- 
vantageous circumstances,  won  signal  victories; 
and  while  the  men  were  confident  and  eager  to 
put  courage  to  the  test,  the  general  had  no  busi- 
ness to  be  discouraged.  The  men  believed  they 
could  repulse  the  enemy  in  his  attempt  to  cross ; 
and  they  should  have  been  given  the  opportunity 
for  a  trial.  But  when  he  had  ci'ossed  they  felt 
safe  within  the  fort;  and  the  scarcity  of  provisions 
could  have  been  no  ground  for  surrender  until  the 
12 


178  MICHIGAN. 

enemy  had  demonstrated  his  ability  to  keep  the 
garrison  behind  its  defenses^ 

The  ground  of  defense  which  has  most  strongly 
appealed  to  the  sympathy  of  the  world  was  that 
a  vigorous  resistance  would  have  subjected  the 
inhabitants  to  the  danger  of  massacre  at  the  hands 
of  the  hostile  Indians.  This  the  general,  who  as 
governor  must  have  been  familiar  with  the  face 
of  nearly  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the 
little  town  of  Detroit,  professed  to  contemplate 
with  horror.  And  if  the  defense  of  his  post 
had  been  plainly  impossible,  he  might  upon  this 
ground  have  been  excused  from  making  the  vain 
attempt.  But  as  a  military  commander  his  first 
duty  was  to  defend  the  posts  committed  to  his 
charge ;  and  he  had  no  right  while  that  was  pos- 
sible to  permit  his  sympathies  to  overcome  his 
sense  of  public  duty.  War  is  cruel  at  the  best, 
and  the  commander  of  an  army  expects  to  inflict 
cruelties  instead  ot  laying  down  his  arms  to  prevent 
them.  A  possible  massacre  of  non-combatants  is 
always  incident  to  a  warfare  in  which  savages  are 
employed,  and  constitutes  a  reason  with  civilized 
nations  for  refusing  to  employ  them.  But  General 
Hull  knew  very  well  that  for  a  military  com- 
mander to  suffer  the  possible  barbarities  of  the 
opposing  force  to  be  accepted  as  a  renson  for 
relaxing  the  vigor  of  his  efforts,  or  fur  surrender- 
ing his  charge  while  it  was  still  in  his  power  to 
make  defense,  was  to  give  the  savage  an  im- 


THE  FATAL   LOGIC  OF  HULL'S  POSITION.      179 

portance  in  war  beyond  his  proper  military  effect- 
iveness, and  to  make  his  very  cruelty  and  his 
disregard  of  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare  a  reason 
for  employing  him.  Instead  of  yielding  to  such 
considerations,  his  duty  on  the  other  hand  would 
be  to  make  his  defense  all  the  more  persistent  and 
vigorous,  that  his  antagonist  might  be  made  to 
see  that  loss  rather  than  gain  was  to  follow  from 
bringing  into  the  field  a  force  so  wicked  and  so 
uncontrollable  in  its  barbarity. 

But  what  was  put  beyond  question  by  Hull's 
defense  was  that  his  fault  began  when  he  ac- 
cepted a  task  which  he  believed  it  was  not  in  his 
power  to  accomplish.  Without  the  command  of 
the  lake  he  had  declared  that  Detroit  must  fall ; 
and  yet  without  command  of  the  lake  he  had 
undertaken  its  defense.  When,  therefore,  the  en- 
emy came  and  demanded  a  surrender,  his  judg- 
ment, deliberately  formed,  assented  immediately 
to  the  demand,  because  he  believed  resistance 
would  be  hopeless.  It  was  not  necessary  to  sug- 
gest physical  cowardice :  the  want  of  confidence 
in  the  ability  to  make  defense  of  the  post  had 
been  made  known  to  the  government  before  his 
appointment.  When  the  government  persisted  in 
offering  him  the  command,  his  duty  was  either  to 
decline  it  absolutely,  or  to  let  the  courage  of  others 
supply  the  deficiency  of  his  own,  even  though  the 
task  might  seem  to  be  an  attempt  to  accomplish 
the  impossible. 


180  MICHIGAN. 

The  judgment  of  the  court-martial  upon  General 
Hull  has  never  as  a  judgment  had  much  weight 
with  the  people.  It  was  ordered  by  an  adminis- 
tration whose  blunders  in  management  had  been 
at  least  equally  blamable  with  his  own  conduct, 
and  it  was  presided  over  by  an  officer  whose 
position  in  respect  to  some  of  the  questions  in- 
volved was  such  as  to  suggest  a  suspicion  that  he 
could  not  be  wholly  unbiased.  The  importance 
to  the  defense  of  Detroit  of  a  command  of~*the 
lake  was  afterwards  so  fully  demonstrated  that 
the  prosecution  of  the  officer  who  pointed  it  out 
in  advance,  by  the  government  which  could  not 
understand  or  appreciate  it,  seemed  to  partake  of 
cruelty. 

On  taking  possession  of  Detroit,  General  Brock 
issued  a  proclamation  announcing  that  the  Amer- 
ican laws  should  continue  in  force  so  long  as  the 
peace  and  safety  of  the  territory  would  admit. 
Colonel  Proctor  was  made  civil  governor  with  full 
powers,  and  he  immediately  issued  regulations  for 
the  government  of  the  territory,  whereby  the  civil 
officers  remaining  in  the  territory  were  for  the 
most  part  continued  in  the  discharge  of  their 
respective  functions,  and  the  courts  were  to  be 
open  as  usual.  And  what  proved  to  be  of  more 
importance  to  the  people  than  any  of  the  other 
regulations,  Chief  Justice  Woodward  was  desig- 
nated to  act  as  secretary. 

This  able  and  fearless  official,  who  in  time  oi 


MILITARY  OPERATIONS.  181 

peace  had  so  stretched  his  prerogative  to  the  an- 
noyance of  the  governor,  had  now  an  opportunity 
to  appear  in  a  character  which  justly  won  for  him 
the  gratitude  of  the  people  whose  interests  in 
a  measure  were  committed  to  his  keeping.  For  a 
time  his  influence  with  Colonel  Proctor  was  con- 
siderable, and  he  was  ready  on  all  occasions  to 
employ  it  in  mitigating  the  evils  of  war  to  his 
countrymen.  But  Proctor  soon  gave  such  unmis- 
takable evidence  of  a  tyrannical  nature  that  no 
one  who  sympathized  with  the  people  placed  by 
the  fortune  of  war  at  his  mercy  could  possibly  for 
any  considerable  time  cooperate  with  him  in  har- 
mony. It  does  not  appear  that  any  breach  took 
place  in  their  official  relations  until  after  the  defeat 
of  Winchester  at  Frenchtown,  but  the  atrocities 
which  attended  and  followed  that  disaster  to  the 
American  arms,  and  the  use  which  the  temporary 
governor  at  Detroit  would  have  made  of  it  to 
bring  an  unwilling  people  to  abjure  allegiance  to 
their  own  government,  not  only  excited  the  indig- 
nation of  the  chief  justice,  but  convinced  him  that 
he  could  no  longer  be  useful  in  the  attempt  to 
cooperate  with  a  man  so  wanting  in  proper  feel- 
ing and  so  unobservant  of  the  common  rights  of 
humanity. 

The  military  operations  important  in  their  bear- 
ing upon  the  final  possession  of  Michigan,  after 
the  capture  of  Detroit,  can  be  briefly  stated.  Fort 
Dearborn  at  Chicago,  which  was  within  the  ju- 


182  MICHIGAN. 

risdiction  of  General  Hull,  was  abandoned  on 
the  loth  of  August,  in  pursuance  of  an  order 
which  he  had  sent,  but  the  garrison  in  returning 
was  captured  by  hostile  Indians  and  in  part  mas- 
sacred.  An  army  entitled  the  Army  of  the  West 
was  soon  put  iu  process  of  formation,  under  the 
command  of  General  Harrison,  who  was  expected 
to  operate  against  Upper  Canada,  and  to  repossess 
the  country  lost  by  Hull.  In  January,  1813, 
General  Harrison  was  at  Sandusky,  from  wlTich 
place  he  sent  orders  to  General  Winchester  at 
Fort  Defiance  to  move  forward  and  take  post 
at  the  Rapids  of  the  Maumee,  which  was  promptly 
accomplished.  At  the  Rapids  Winchester  received 
an  urgent  appeal  from  Frenchtown  for  protection 
against  British  and  Indians  who  were  then  threat- 
ening to  plunder  the  settlement,  and  he  sent  out  a 
detachment  of  near  seven  hundred  men  to  their 
assistance.  The  enemy  were  attacked  and  scat- 
tered with  considerable  loss,  and  Winchester  on 
receiving  information  of  the  affair,  went  forward 
himself  with  a  small  reinforcement,  and  assumed 
the  command.  The  force  which  had  preceded  him 
was  quartered  behind  pickets  in  the  settlement, 
and  the  reinforcement  encamped  in  the  open  field. 
Here  at  daybreak  of  the  next  morning,  January 
22d,  Winchester  was  attacked  by  a  British  force 
from  Maiden  under  the  command  of  Proctor,  and 
nearly  the  whole  detachment  was  killed  or  cap- 
tured. Winchester  himself  was  among  the  pris- 


PROCTOR'S  INHUMANITY.  183 

oners,  and  many  of  his  men  in  endeavoring  to 
escape  were  tomahawked  by  Indians.  Meantime 
an  assault  upon  the  pickets  had  been  repulsed  with 
heavy  loss ;  but  Proctor  having  made  Winchester 
believe  he  could  easily  destroy  the  village  and 
drive  out  the  military  with  his  artillery,  and  that 
a  massacre  by  the  Indians  would  follow,  the  latter 
weakly  sent  orders  for  surrender.  Major  Madison, 
who  was  in  command,  declined  to  obey  until  as- 
sured of  protection  against  the  Indians,  and  the 
proper  assurances  were  given.  Private  property 
was  to  be  respected,  a  guard  was  to  be  provided 
for  the  wounded,  and  sleighs  furnished  for  their 
removal  to  Maiden. 

If  any  attempt  was  made  to  keep  faith  with 
these  stipulations,  it  was  so  feeble  and  ill-con- 
ducted that  it  accomplished  little  or  nothing. 
Proctor  did  indeed  take  to  Maiden  under  the  pro- 
tection of  his  own  soldiers  such  of  the  prisoners 
as  were  able  to  walk,  but  the  wounded  were  left 
behind,  where  they  were  plundered  by  straggling 
savages ;  and  after  the  main  body  of  the  Indians 
had  moved  off  to  Stony  Creek,  a  band,  some  two 
hundred  in  number,  unable  longer  to  restrain  their 
savage  propensities,  hurried  back  to  Frenchtown, 
and  began  an  indiscriminate  slaughter.  Well  has 
a  historian  of  Canada  said,  in  alluding  to  this 
affair :  "  It  is  a  subject  of  eternal  regret  to  every 
true  Briton  that  those  biped  bloodhounds  should 


184  MICHIGAN. 

have  nm  under  the  shadow  of  our  standard  so 
long  and  so  late."  l 

The  criminality  of  Proctor  in  respect  to  the 
massacre  of  Frenchtown  was  enhanced,  if  that  be 
possible,  by  the  fact  that  citizens,  in  anticipation 
of  a  battle,  had  specially  called  his  attention  to 
the  probability  of  such  an  occurrence.  Judge 
Woodward,  in  a  subsequent  communication  re- 
viewing the  facts,  reminded  him  of  the  previous 
apprehensions  of  the  people,  which  had  induced 
them  to  press  the  subject  upon  his  attention 
previous  to  the  battle,  and  that  their  fears  had 
been  quieted  by  his  assurance  that  he  considered 
his  own  honor  pledged  for  their  effectual  protec- 
tion. Proctor  affected  to  disbelieve  the  reports  of 
barbarities,  and  called  upon  the  judge  for  proofs. 
They  were  furnished  in  great  abundance,  and  the 
story,  which  was  cruel  enough  when  told  in  sum- 
mary, was  only  the  more  sickening  and  horrible 
when  given  in  detail.  Proctor,  also,  as  if  that  to 
any  extent  could  excuse  the  massacre,  intimated, 
without  directly  affirming,  that  the  surrender  had 
been  made  without  pledge  of  protection  on  his 
part ;  but  he  was  very  properly  reminded  that  the 
principles  of  the  law  of  nations  impose  an  obliga- 
tion almost  equally  strong ;  and  the  judge  might 
very  justly  have  added  that  a  commander  who 
advances  the  fact  that  his  prisoners  surrendered 
without  first  demanding  assurances  that  they  shall 

1  Garneau's  History  of  Canada,  by  Bell,  vol.  ii.  p.  293. 


UNJUSTIFIABLE  MEASURES.  185 

be  treated  according  to  the  rules  of  civilized  war 
as  excuse  or  palliation  for  his  conduct  in  suffering 
them  to  be  massacred,  is  adding,  by  the  brutality 
of  the  excuse,  to  the  original  enormity. 

For  some  time  after  the  massacre  there  might 
frequently  be  seen  on  the  streets  of  Detroit  women 
and  children  led  or  driven  as  the  prisoners  of  sav- 
ages, and  considerable  sums  were  paid  by  humane 
people  for  their  ransom.  Meantime  Proctor,  not 
yet  satisfied  with  the  misery  inflicted  upon  the 
territory,  undertook  to  coerce  the  citizens  of  De- 
troit into  taking  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  king. 
He  seems  to  have  intimated  a  desire  to  have  the 
assistance  of  Judge  Woodward  in  this  business ; 
but  that  officer,  with  no  little  indignation,  told 
him  that  "  in  a  state  of  open  and  declared  war  a 
subject  or  citizen  of  one  party  cannot  transfer  his 
allegiance  to  the  other  party  without  incurring 
the  penalties  of  treason ;  and  while  nothing  can 
excuse  his  guilt,  so  neither  are  those  innocent  who 
lay  temptations  before  him."  Proctor  also,  with- 
out just  cause  so  far  as  is  known,  ordered  from 
the  town  a  considerable  number  of  its  leading 
citizens,  in  palpable  violation  of  the  terms  of 
Hull's  capitulation,  which  stipulated  for  the  pro- 
tection of  persons  and  private  property.  They 
made  spirited  protest,  but  it  had  no  effect  upon 
the  British  commander  ;  and  Judge  Woodward, 
apparently  convinced  that  he  could  no  longer  be 
of  service  to  his  countrymen  by  remaining  in  De- 


186  MICHIGAN. 

troit  as  the  subordinate  of  so  arbitrary  a  ruler, 
withdrew  from  the  territory  that  he  might  give 
the  facts  to  the  world.  He  returned  when  peace 
was  restored,  and  took  up  again  his  judicial  func- 
tions. 

The  capture  of  Winchester  was  followed  by 
successive  attacks  under  the  leadership  of  Proctor 
on  Forts  Meigs  and  Stephenson,  where  his  repulse 
was  so  decided  that  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  fall 
back  with  precipitation  upon  Maiden.  But^he 
career  of  this  obnoxious  officer  was  now  rapidly 
drawing  to  a  close.  On  the  10th  of  September, 
1813,  Commodore  Perry  won  his  great  victory 
over  Commodore  Barclay  at  Put-in  Bay,  capturing 
the  entire  British  squadron.  Making  use  of  the 
captured  vessels  for  convoy,  the  army  of  Harrison, 
now  largely  reinforced,  was  transferred  to  Canada 
and  took  up  offensive  operations.  Proctor,  in  great 
haste,  proceeded  to  dismantle  the  fortress  at  Mai- 
den preparatory  to  flight.  To  the  great  Indian 
chieftain  this  looked  like  an  act  of  cowardice,  and 
he  made  earnest  protest  against  it.  In  a  formal 
speech  Tecnmseh  said  to  his  superior  officer,  "  You 
have  got  the  arms  and  ammunition  which  our 
great  father  sent  for  his  red  children.  If  you 
have  an  idea  of  going  away,  give  them  to  us,  and 
then  for  all  we  care  you  may  go  and  welcome. 
Our  lives  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Great  Spirit. 
We  are  determined  to  defend  our  lands,  and  if  it 
be  his  will  we  wish  to  leave  our  bones  upon 


END   OF  MILITARY  OPERATIONS.  187 

them."  But  the  protest  and  the  plainly  implied 
censure  were  alike  in  vain.  Maiden  and  Detroit 
were  both  evacuated  and  a  hasty  retreat  made. 
Detroit  on  September  29th  was  reoccupied  by  an 
American  detachment,  and  Proctor  was  pursued 
and  overtaken  at  the  Moravian  town,  where  he 
sustained  a  crushing  defeat,  and  only  escaped 
capture  by  precipitate  flight,  looking,  as  some  of 
his  own  people  said,  more  after  his  baggage  than 
after  his  army.  Tecumseh,  who  among  Amer- 
icans had  in  all  respects  a  better  reputation  than 
his  superior,  and  was  looked  upon  as  honorable 
and  humane,  was  killed  in  the  engagement. 

This  victory  effectually  broke  for  the  time  the 
British  power  in  Western  Canada,  and  was  the 
end  of  important  military  operations  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Detroit.  Colonel  Cass,  much  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  people,  was  stationed  with  his 
regiment  at  that  place  and  given  the  command. 
Mackinaw  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
British,  and  an  attempt  made  by  Colonel  Croghan 
to  recover  it  in  July,  1814,  proved  abortive.  It 
was  only  restored  after  the  conclusion  of  peace  in 
the  spring  of  the  following  year. 

After  the  death  of  Tecumseh  a  considerable 
number  of  Indians  abandoned  their  British  allies, 
and  some  of  them  offered  their  services  to  Colonel 
Cass  and  were  accepted  and  enrolled  by  him.  But 
it  was  not  easy  to  subject  them  to  proper  dis- 
cipline, and  their  thirst  for  plunder  was  so  uncon- 


188  MICHIGAN. 

trollable  that  Colonel  Cass  did  not  long  retain 
them.  Hostile  Indians  hovered  about  Detroit  and 
committed  occasional  depredations  until  after  the 
peace  with  Great  Britain.  A  mounted  force  was 
sent  up  from  Ohio  as  a  protection  against  them, 
and  they  were  soon  brought  under  such  fear 
of  punishment  as  kept  them  for  the  most  part  to 
a  proper  observance  of  the  rights  of  others. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  BEGINNINGS   OF  ACTIVE  AMERICAN  SETTLE- 
MENT. 

MICHIGAN  had  great  good  fortune  in  her  second 
territorial  governor.  Lewis  Cass,  born  in  New 
Hampshire,  had  settled  at  Marietta  at  the  age  of 
seventeen,  and  hud  had  abundant  opportunity  to 
become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Northwest 
and  its  people.  He  was  a  lawyer  of  exceptional 
ability  ;  he  had  been  in  the  legislature  of  Ohio 
when  the  mysterious  conspiracy  of  Burr  excited 
and  alarmed  the  country,  and  had  drawn  and  pro- 
cured the  passage  of  a  luw  to  reach  and  punish 
such  conspiracies.  Afterwards  he  had  served  as 
marshal  of  Ohio,  on  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son. On  the  breaking  out  of  war  with  Great 
Britain,  he  had  entered  into  military  service,  with 
the  ambition  and  courage  to  make  the  aggressive 
campaign  which  the  country  had  expected  of  Hull 
His  severe  condemnation  of  that  officer,  in  a  letter 
to  the  war  department,  had  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  country,  and  been  generally  accepted  as 
conclusive  of  Hull's  criminality.  Afterwards  he 
had  taken  part  in  the  brilliant  campaign  of  Harri- 


190  MICHIGAN. 

son,  which  ended  in  the  destruction  of  the  British 
army  in  western  Canada,  the  killing  of  Tecum- 
seh,  and  the  ignominious  flight  of  Proctor.  He 
had  then  been  assigned  to  the  command  at  Detroit 
and  became  military  governor  of  Michigan.  The 
president  could  have  made  no  appointment  of 
civil  governor  more  likely  to  be  useful  or  accepta- 
ble to  the  people. 

The  territory  was  also  fortunate  in  its  secretary. 
This  office  was  of  great  importance,  as  the  secre- 
tary, in  the  absence  of  the  governor,  would  become 
acting  governor  ex  officio.  William  Woodbridge 
was  selected  for  this  place,  like  Cass  a  lawyer  of 
prominence  at  Marietta.  The  two  men  were  as 
different  as  possible :  the  governor,  a  man  of  the 
world,  of  robust  health  and  active  temperament, 
fond  of  politics  and  a  natural  leader ;  the  secretary, 
more  frail  and  of  a  retiring  disposition,  and  never 
so  happy  as  when  busy  at  his  quiet  home  among 
his  books.  On  political  questions  the  two  were 
commonly  found  in  opposition,  but  there  were  no 
unseemly  disagreements  during  the  long  time  they 
held  offices  so  mutually  related,  and  their  official 
intercourse  was  always  decorous  and  agreeable, 
though  they  were  never  specially  intimate. 

The  number  of  French  farms,  particularly  on 
the  river  Detroit,  had  been  slowly  increasing. 
Secretary  Woodbridge  has  left  us  a  picturesque 
description  of  their  appearance  from  the  river  as 
he  came  up  to  take  possession  of  his  office :  the 


THE  FUR  TRADE  IN  MICHIGAN.  191 

row  of  long  and  narrow  farms,  with  cultivation 
only  in  front ;  the  houses  of  one  story,  most  of 
them  from  ten  to  eighty  years  old  and  fashioned  a 
little  like  the  houses  of  the  low  Dutch  about  New 
York ;  and  the  moss-grown  crucifixes  everywhere 
on  gates,  barns,  and  houses,  —  this  was  what  ap- 
peared on  either  side  the  river. 

But  it  was  still  to  be  said  of  Michigan  that  its 
few  settlements  were  far  on  the  frontier,  and  that 
its  leading  interest  was  that  which  gathered  its 
harvests  in  the  wilderness.  John  Jacob  Astor  had 
appeared  in  the  fur  trade  a  little  before  the  war, 
and  had  negotiated  with  the  British  fur  companies 
for  the  purchase  of  their  interests  on  the  American 
side  of  the  boundary,  but  the  war  had  broken  up 
the  arrangements,  and  after  it  was  over  Congress, 
in  his  interest,  passed  a  law  prohibiting  foreign 
traders  from  prosecuting  their  enterprises  within 
the  limits  of  the  United  States.  This  law,  as  a  re- 
taliatory measure,  was  perfectly  just,  for  the  Brit- 
ish companies,  by  their  organization  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  had  employed  it  in  the  capture 
of  Mackinaw,  had  given  ample  demonstration  that 
they  were  capable  of  performing  the  service  of  a 
military  force,  and  that  they  constituted  an  ever- 
present  danger  to  the  settlements.  It  was  evi- 
dent, also,  that  their  interests  were  opposed  to  the 
settlement  of  the  country  ;  and  if  this  fact  did 
not  prompt  them  to  foster  an  unfriendly  feeling  on 
the  part  of  the  Indians  towards  the  Americans, 


192  MICHIGAN. 

it  would  without  doubt  keep  alive  an  influence 
against  further  cessions  of  land  by  the  Indian 
tribes.  The  exclusion  of  British  fur  dealers  from 
American  territory  was,  therefore,  justifiable  on 
sound  reasons  of  public  policy;  and  Mr.  Astor  as 
the  American  Fur  Company,  with  his  headquar- 
ters on  the  island  of  Mackinaw,  soon  had  the 
woods  full  of  savage  and  half  savage  people, 
working  in  his  interest  and  gathering  for  him  the 
forest  treasures  that  soon  made  him  one  of"*tLe 
great  merchant  princes  of  the  world. 

The  fur  trade,  however,  could  neither  colonize 
Michigan  nor  enrich  it.  It  brought  some  money 
and  some  goods  into  the  territory  and  assisted  in 
giving  a  certain  activity  to  business  at  the  centres 
of  trade.  But  the  period  immediately  following 
the  war  was  one  of  great  depression  and  general 
stagnation  in  business,  and  the  derangement  of  the 
currency  was  such  that  losses  from  that  source 
were  constant  and  unavoidable.  Steady  progress 
and  prosperity  were  impossible  while  this  state  of 
things  continued. 

Michigan  also  needed  to  be  better  known.  The 
country  knew  almost  nothing  of  it,  and  the  com- 
mon belief  was  that  there  was  a  fine  belt  of  terri- 
tory on  the  eastern  border,  but  that  the  interior 
was  avast  swamp  which  might  well  be  abandoned 
to  fur-bearing  animals  and  the  trappers  and  hunt- 
ers. This  belief  was  countenanced  by  the  geog- 
raphers of  the  day ;  for  even  Morse,  who  was  con- 


TREATMENT  OF   INDIANS.  193 

sidered  authority,  gave  it  currency  in  the  books 
which  were  made  use  of  in  colleges  and  schools. 
It  was  supported  also  by  the  reports  of  surveyors 
who  were  sent  out  by  the  general  government,  and 
who  reported  without  much  investigation  what 
they  supposed  to  be  the  fact.  A  notable  instance 
is  that  of  the  party  who  were  charged  with  the 
duty  of  making  surveys  for  bounty  lands  for  the 
soldiers  who  had  served  in  the  late  war.  These 
surveyors  professed  to  have  made  an  examination 
of  the  country,  beginning  at  the  northern  terminus 
of  the  boundary  line  between  Ohio  and  Indiana 
and  proceeding  thence  north  fifty  miles ;  and  they 
reported  finding  only  tamarack  swamps,  bogs,  and 
sand  barrens,  with  not  one  acre  in  a  hundred  fit 
for  cultivation ;  a  most  astounding  report,  and 
quite  impossible  to  have  been  honestly  made,  if 
they  had  examined  the  country  as  they  professed 
to  have  done.  But  it  was  conclusive  for  the  time, 
and  the  soldiers  were  sent  farther  west  for  their 
bounty  lands,  not  probably  to  their  advantage. 

Other  causes  besides  ignorance  of  the  country 
were  delaying  its  settlement.  Many  Indians  were 
still  in  the  territory,  whose  presence  was  disqui- 
eting, and  the  governor  deemed  it  of  high  im- 
portance that,  so  far  as  should  be  found  possible, 
consistently  with  justice,  they  should  be  removed 
to  the  distant  west.  They  had,  now,  in  two  wars 
been  employed  by  the  British  against  the  Ameri- 
cans, and  they  were  regular  pensioners  on  British 

13 


194  MICHIGAN. 

bounty.  They  gathered  annually  in  considerable 
numbers  at  Maiden  and  at  Drummond's  Island  to 
receive  payments  and  presents,  and  while  their 
attachment  to  the  British  was  thus  perpetuated, 
their  animosity  to  the  Americans  was  to  some 
extent  kept  alive  also.  They  passed  back  and 
forth  through  the  territory  in  large  bands,  and 
were  likely  to  encamp  in  the  vicinity  of  white 
settlements,  whenever  there  was  opportunity  for 
doing  so,  and  their  drunken  orgies  and  sa"fage 
antics  made  them  a  source  of  constant  dread  and 
danger. 

Governor  Cass,  therefore,  who  was  made  super- 
intendent of  Indian  affairs  for  the  Northwest,  gave 
early  attention  to  the  extinguishment  of  the  In- 
dian title.  One  treaty  of  cession  was  made  as 
early  as  1814;  another  and  very  important  one 
was  concluded  at  Fort  Meigs,  on  September  29, 
1817,  by  which  the  Wyandot,  Seneca,  Delaware, 
Shawanese,  Pottawatamie,  Ottawa,  and  Chip- 
pewa  tribes  of  Indians  surrendered  nearly  all  the 
lands  they  claimed  in  Ohio,  and  large  districts  in 
Indiana  and  Michigan,  constituting  in  all  nearly 
four  millions  of  acres.  Sixteen  other  treaties 
were  negotiated  during  his  administration,  mainly 
through  his  management,  resulting  in  the  transfer 
of  a  large  part  of  the  Indians  to  the  country  west 
of  the  Mississippi.  In  all  his  dealings  with  them 
the  governor  proceeded  in  a  spirit  of  perfect  fair- 
ness, refusing  at  any  time  to  resort  to  coercion, 


SALES  OF  PUBLIC  LANDS.        195 

but  waiting  for  a  more  propitious  day  when  he 
found  success  by  fair  means  impossible.  He  thus 
preserved  for  himself  the  respect  of  the  Indians, 
and  secured  for  his  people  their  good  will. 

It  was  next  important  that  the  lands  acquired 
by  the  United  States  should  be  brought  into 
market.  Congress  in  1796  had  provided  for  the 
survey  and  sale  of  the  public  lands  in  sections  of 
six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  at  a  minimum  price 
of  two  dollars  an  acre,  giving  credit  for  a  part  of 
the  purchase-price  if  desired.  Changes  were  after- 
wards made  in  the  interest  of  purchasers  with 
small  means,  and  in  1817  sales  in  eighty-acre  lots 
were  authorized.  In  1818  the  surveys  had  so  far 
progressed  that  sales  were  begun  in  Michigan. 
In  1820  the  minimum  price  was  reduced  to  one 
dollar  twenty-five  cents  an  acre.  Ten  years  later 
preemption  rights  began  to  be  given  to  actual 
settlers  upon  the  public  lands.  By  this  legislation 
it  was  made  easy  for  any  prudent  and  industri- 
ous person  to  obtain  land  sufficient  for  moderate 
wants. 

Governor  Cass  meanwhile  was  active  and  vigi- 
lant in  furthering  the  interests  of  his  government. 
In  1818,  on  the  admission  of  Illinois  to  the  Union 
as  a  state,  the  territory  of  Michigan  had  been 
enlarged  by  the  addition  to  it  of  all  that  part  of 
the  Northwest  Territory  lying  west  of  Lake  Mich- 
igan and  north  of  .Illinois  ;  an  addition,  the  value 
of  which  was  at  the  time  very  little  known.  The 


196  MICHIGAN. 

governor  now  determined  to  visit  in  person  the 
upper  lake  region,  with  a  view  to  inquire  into 
the  condition  of  the  Indians,  their  numbers  and 
sentiments  ;  to  explain  to  them  that  their  an- 
nual visits  to  the  British  authorities  at  Maiden 
were  offensive  to  him  and  must  be  discontinued ; 
to  obtain  further  cessions  if  possible ;  to  investi- 
gate the  copper  region;  and  to  make  himself 
familiar  with  facts  concerning  the  British  and 
American  fur  trade.  This  comprehensive  plan* was 
carried  out  by  the  governor  in  1820,  when  he  tra- 
versed the  lakes  with  a  party  in  open  boats,  hold- 
ing councils  with  the  Indians  by  the  way,  at  one 
of  which  a  cession  of  land  at  the  Sault  St.  Marie 
was  secured.  But  the  Indians  were  generally 
found  to  be  unfriendly  and  completely  under  Brit- 
ish control.  At  the  Sault,  when  the  governor 
signified  his  purpose  to  construct  a  new  fort,  there 
were  plain  intimations  that  it  would  not  be  per- 
mitted, and  one  of  the  chiefs  spurned  with  a  con- 
temptuous kick  the  presents  which  had  been  laid 
out  for  him.  When  the  council  broke  up  for  the 
day,  the  Indians  withdrew  and  raised  the  British 
flag  before  the  tent  of  one  of  their  chiefs ;  but 
Governor  Cass,  on  perceiving  it,  immediately  pro- 
ceeded, without  arms  and  unattended,  to  take  it 
down  and  bear  it  away  with  him,  regardless  of  the 
menacing  aspect  of  the  savages  and  of  their  mut- 
tered threats.  It  was  a  bold  act  but  as  wise  as  it 
was  bold,  and  though  for  a  time  an  armed  collision 


ABSENCE  OF  GOOD  ROADS.        197 

seemed  imminent,  the  undaunted  demeanor  of  the 
governor  had  its  effect,  and  the  Indians,  when 
they  were  given  distinctly  to  understand  that  the 
fort  would  be  built  and  American  supremacy 
maintained,  returned  to  the  council  in  a  more  sub- 
missive mood,  and  consented  to  enter  upon  an 
amicable  consideration  of  the  subjects  the  governor 
brought  before  it. 

Another  matter  of  immediate  and  pressing  im- 
portance was  that  of  roads.  Immigrants  could 
not  come  into  the  territory  in  any  considerable 
numbers  so  long  as  they  must  find  their  way 
through  the  woods  by  trails,  or  by  roads  cut  out 
but  never  worked,  and  which  in  a  little  while  by 
use  became  nearly  impassable.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  war  there  were  no  good  roads  anywhere  in 
the  territory.  Lake  Erie  was  then  open,  but  there 
were  no  regular  passenger  vessels  of  any  kind  upon 
it.  Neither  was  there  any  considerable  popula- 
tion bordering  it  from  which  Michigan  might  ex- 
pect accessions.  Such  immigration  as  then  came 
to  the  territory  would  be  likely  to  take  the  road 
around  the  west  end  of  Lake  Erie,  a  road  the 
national  importance  of  which,  not  less  for  military 
than  for  civil  purposes,  had  been  fully  demon- 
strated in  the  late  war.  The  governor,  therefore, 
with  the  efficient  aid  of  the  secretary,  called  the 
attention  of  the  federal  government  to  it,  and  the 
secretary  in  person  pressed  it  upon  the  attention 
of  Congress  with  such  effect  that  an  appropriation 


198  MICHIGAN. 

in  aid  of  it  was  at  length  secured.  The  resources 
of  the  territory,  so  far  as  with  reason  they  could 
be  applied  to  this  purpose,  were  appropriated  to 
the  construction  of  a  highway  from  Detroit  to 
Chicago,  and  other  roads  of  similar  importance, 
and  it  became  possible  to  penetrate  the  territory 
in  various  directions  with  the  ordinary  means  of 
country  transportation,  as  it  had  never  been  be- 
fore. The  results  were  so  beneficial  that  the 
population  of  the  territory,  which  for  fifty  years 
had  been  nearly  stationary,  began  steadily,  though 
slowly,  to  increase,  and  by  1820  not  only  had  the 
losses  by  the  war  been  made  good,  but  the  num- 
ber of  the  people  was  found  to  be  twice  as  great 
as  it  was  at  the  preceding  census. 

Meantime  the  question  of  change  in  the  terri- 
torial government  was  being  agitated.  In  1818, 
under  a  belief  that  the  population  of  the  territory 
now  entitled  the  people  to  be  represented  in  the 
legislative  department,  the  question  was  submitted 
to  a  popular  vote,  whether  they  desired  to  be  thus 
represented.  The  answer  by  the  voters,  the  most 
of  whom  were  still  French,  was  a  decided  nega- 
tive. The  people  had  found  nothing  to  object  to 
in  the  existing  government  and  they  cared  for  no 
change.  Moreover,  to  them  the  duties  and  the 
burdens  of  government  seem  to  have  had  no 
special  attractions.  They  were  also  still  poor 
from  the  exhaustion  of  the  war,  and  the  cost  of 
the  proposed  change  in  government  was  used  as  a 


FATHER  RICHARD.  199 

powerful  argument  against  it.  They  were,  how- 
ever, given  the  privilege  of  electing  a  delegate  to 
Congress  in  1819,  and  William  Woodbridge  was 
first  chosen.  After  a  short  incumbency  he  re- 
tired, and  was  succeeded  by  Judge  Solomon  Sib- 
ley,  and  he  in  turn  by  Father  Richard. 

Father  Richard  was  now  in  his  sixtieth  year. 
He  had  built  St.  Anne's  Church  at  Detroit  under 
many  difficulties  of  a  pecuniary  nature,  and  he 
now  officiated  there  to  a  large  congregation.  He 
was  a  favorite  with  the  people  at  large,  and  was 
easily  persuaded  that,  as  territorial  delegate,  he 
might  be  exceptionally  useful  at  Washington.  But 
he  was  not  universally  liked  by  his  parishioners, 
with  whose  faults  he  was  not  over-indulgent ;  and 
it  is  a  fact  not  unworthy  of  mention  that  when 
elected  delegate  he  was  under  arrest  on  an  exe- 
cution in  favor  of  one  of  them.  One  of  his  people 
had  obtained  a  divorce  from  his  wife  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  the  church,  and  had  then  married 
again ;  and  the  father  arraigned  him  in  church 
and  denounced  him,  in  the  presence  of  the  congre- 
gation, as  an  adulterer.  For  this  language  he  was 
prosecuted  and  a  judgment  of  a  thousand  dol- 
lars obtained,  which  he  refused  to  pay,  preferring 
to  suffer  imprisonment,  rather  than  recognize  the 
rightfulness  of  this  judicial  interference  with  his 
clerical  functions.  His  privilege  as  a  member  of 
Congress  enabled  him  to  obtain  relief  for  the  time 
being,  and  eventually  the  equally  plain  privilege 


200  MICHIGAN. 

belonging  to  his  sacred  office  was  very  properly 
recognized  by  the  court,  and  the  judgment  ar- 
rested. He  served  one  term  as  delegate  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  people,  and  was  then  succeeded 
by  Austin  E.  Wing,  some  of  the  Catholics  lead- 
ing the  opposition  which  defeated  him.  But  he 
turned  patiently  and  without  complaint  to  his 
more  legitimate  work,  to  which  he  devoted  him- 
self with  unwearied  assiduity  until  1832,  when  he 
fell  a  victim  to  the  cholera,  dying  full  of  years, 
and  grateful  for  the  long  life  of  labor  and  useful- 
ness which  had  been  accorded  him. 

Long  before  this  time  other  denominations  of 
Christians  had  come  to  be  represented  in  the  ter- 
ritory by  their  teachers  and  pastors;  the  Meth- 
odists, who  in  the  new  West  have  commonly  been 
the  pioneers,  were  gathering  a  little  congregation 
at  Detroit  as  early  as  1809,  and  in  1816  the  Rev. 
John  Monteith,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  again,  was 
delivering  carefully  prepared  written  discourses 
with  decided  Calvinistic  leaning,  to  Protestants 
without  distinction.  And  before  long  began 
changes  in  government.  In  1823  the  legislative 
power  was  finally  transferred  from  the  governor 
and  judges  to  the  governor  and  a  council  of  nine, 
the  members  of  the  council  being  selected  by 
the  president  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate  from 
eighteen  chosen  by  the  people.  By  this  change 
Michigan  was  advanced  to  the  second  grade  in  ter- 
ritorial government.  Two  years  later  came  an- 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  SELF-GOVERNMENT.      201 

other  change  in  the  increase  of  the  councilmen 
to  thirteen,  and  in  1827  the  exclusive  power  of 
choice  was  left  to  the  people. 

This  last  change,  which  established  the  third 
grade  in  territorial  government,  made  the  people 
to  a  large  extent  self-governing.  It  m;iy  be  as- 
sumed to  have  been  made  on  the  recommendation 
of  the  governor,  for  it  was  in  entire  accord  with  his 
well  known  views.  Though  in  his  own  office  a 
creature  of  executive  power,  he  was  a  thorough 
believer  in  self-government  of  tlie  people,  and  de- 
sired to  see  the  power  of  appointment  which  was 
vested  in  him  transferred  to  the  voters.  In  one  of 
his  messages  he  urged  an  application  to  Congress 
for  a  change  of  the  law  in  this  regard,  and  he 
sometimes  advised  the  holding  of  popular  elections 
as  a  guide  to  his  own  action  in  making  appoint- 
ments. But  the  democratic  tendencies  of  his  mind 
were  perhaps  most  distinctly  manifested  in  his 
recommendations  on  the  subject  of  popular  educa- 
tion, of  which  more  will  be  heard  farther  on. 

Under  the  organic  law  the  governor  had  power 
to  organize  counties,  and  this  power  he  exercised 
freely  as  occasion  required.  In  1825  the  legisla- 
tive council  was  empowered  to  divide  the  counties 
into  townships,  and  the  township  system  was  then 
introduced  which  in  its  main  features  has  con- 
tinued to  this  day.  But  other  changes  were  now 
taking  place  which  were  quite  as  significant  in 
their  influence  upon  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 


202  MICHIGAN. 

the  territory  as  the  changes  in  government.  Pre- 
vious to  1809  there  had  been  no  printing  press  in 
the  territory  and  Governor  Hull  was  compelled  to 
procure  the  printing  of  his  orders  and  proclama- 
tions—  when  they  were  printed  at  all  —  several 
hundred  miles  away.  Even  the  laws  were  not 
printed  as  they  appeared,  and  some  of  them,  re- 
maining in  manuscript,  were  mislaid  or  abstracted 
and  all  evidence  of  them  lost.  The  first  printing 
press  was  brought  to  the  territory  in  1809*  by 
Father  Richard,  and  a  little  paper  called  the 
"  Michigan  Essay  and  Impartial  Observer  " 
started  ;  but  it  had  brief  existence.  In  1816  the 
Cass  Code,  as  it  was  popularly  called,  was  pub- 
lished. It  was,  in  the  main,  a  mere  abstract  of 
the  laws  in  force,  the  territorial  funds  not  justify- 
ing a  full  publication.  In  1817  the  day  of  news- 
papers for  Michigan  had  come,  and  the  "  Detroit 
Gazette  "  was  begun,  followed  in  1825  by  another 
paper  at  Detroit,  in  1829  by  a  third  at  Ann  Ar- 
bor, and  in  1830  by  others  at  Monroe  and  Pon- 
tiac.  These  were  not  merely  journals  of  current 
news,  but  at  times  they  discussed  public  affairs 
and  important  political  questions  with  ability  and 
vigor.  Now  also  dawned  the  day  of  steamboats. 
The  Walk-in-the-Water  made  its  appearance  at 
Detroit  in  1818  and  was  hailed  as  the  harbinger 
of  a  new  era.  The  next  year  it  advanced  as  far 
as  Mackinaw,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  savages 
who  were  mischievously  made  to  believe  it  was 


GOVERNOR   CASS  IN  JACKSON'S  CABINET.     203 

drawn  by  a  team  of  trained  sturgeons.  The  great 
event  of  the  period,  however,  and  that  which  had 
most  to  do  with  giving  sudden  impetus  to  the 
growth  of  Michigan  and  bringing  to  it  the  pop- 
ulation that  shortly  had  planted  settlements  and 
reared  churches  and  school-houses  all  through  its 
central  and  southern  parts,  was  the  opening  in 
1825  of  the  Erie  Canal.  It  was  not  long  after 
this  before  steamers  were  abundant  on  the  lakes; 
no  less  than  seven  on  Lake  Erie  in  1826,  and  four 
years  thereafter  a  daily  line  was  running  between 
Detroit  and  Buffalo.  The  fort  at  Detroit  was 
abandoned,  as  having  become  an  anachronism,  in 
1827,  and  in  the  same  year  flour  began  on  a  small 
scale  to  be  exported.  In  1830  the  population  had 
risen  to  32,538,  and  the  territory  was  self-support- 
ing. By  the  time  Governor  Cass  was  summoned 
by  President  Jackson  to  a  seat  in  his  cabinet  in 
1831,  the  little  frontier  settlements  which  he  had 
come  on  to  defend  in  1812  had  extended  and 
spread  to  the  dimensions  of  a  commonwealth 
under  his  judicious  and  statesmanlike  care  and 
nurture. 

There  was  some  feeling  of  territorial  pride  that 
Jackson  had  looked  to  this  distant  region  for  a 
member  of  his  cabinet,  but  the  people  of  the  ter- 
ritory parted  with  the  governor  with  great  reluc- 
tance. He  had  not  only  managed  the  public 
affairs  with  ability  and  unquestioned  integrity, 
but  his  example  had  been  excellent  and  his  innu- 


204  MICHIGAN. 

ence  of  the  best.  Governing  frontier  settlements 
where  rough  characters  abounded  and  roystering 
habits  prevailed,  he  was  always  in  his  own  deport- 
ment courteous  and  complaisant,  always  abste- 
mious, always  self-respecting ;  and  as  unexception- 
able in  his  private  character  and  in  all  his  domestic 
and  social  relations  as  he  was  in  his  public  capacity 
and  deportment.  Permanent  American  settlement 
may  be  said  to  have  begun  with  him ;  and  it  was 
a  great  and  lasting  boon  to  Michigan  when  it^as 
given  a  governor  at  once  so  able,  so  patriotic,  so 
attentive  to  his  duties,  and  so  worthy  in  his  public 
and  private  life  of  respect  and  esteem. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  TERRITORY  ADVANCES   TO  THE  DIGNITY 
OF   A   STATE. 

WHEN  Lewis  Cass  resigned  the  office  of  gov- 
ernor of  Michigan,  there  were  living  within  the 
territory  many  men  of  ability  and  education,  who 
were  thoroughly  familiar  with  its  affairs  and  fully 
possessed  of  the  public  confidence.  The  appoint- 
ment of  any  one  of  these  to  the  vacant  office  would 
have  been  recognized  as  that  of  a  competent  and 
suitable  person.  Some  of  them  —  as,  for  example, 
William  Woodbridge,  who  had  been  secretary  of 
the  territory,  and  as  such  had  occasionally  acted 
as  governor  in  the  absence  of  Governor  Cass,  and 
who,  after  resigning  the  office  of  secretary,  had 
been  successively  delegate  in  Congress  and  judge, 
and  Austin  E.  Wing,  who  had  also  been  dele- 
gate in  Congress  —  were  already  well  known  at 
Washington,  and  others  might  have  been  known 
through  Governor  Cass  had  he  been  consulted. 
The  late  governor  was  a  democrat  by  conviction 
and  not  merely  in  a  party  sense  ;  it  was  no  new 
doctrine  with  him,  when,  in  his  famous  Nicholson 
letter,  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  nominating 


206  MICHIGAN. 

convention  of  his  party  in  1848,  he  laid  down  the 
proposition  respecting  the  inherent  right  of  the 
people  of  the  territories  to  self-government  which, 
by  way  of  ridicule,  was  christened  by  his  oppo- 
nents as  the  doctrine  of  squatter  sovereignty  ;  he 
had  himself  as  governor  endeavored  to  devolve 
upon  the  people  as  belonging  to  them  of  right  such 
appointing  power  as  the  law  had  confided  to  him  ; 
jind  it  is  not  probable,  had  he  been  consulted  by 
the  president  respecting  officers  for  the  territory 
he  was  leaving,  that  he  would  have  advised  look- 
ing beyond  the  territory  itself  for  such  officers,  or 
that  he  would  have  felt  any  difficulty  in  naming 
perfectly  competent  men,  who  had  cast  their  for- 
tunes with  the  territory,  for  every  important  office 
in  it.  It  is  very  rare  that  a  new  community  in  a 
frontier  region  contains  among  its  members  so 
many  men  of  culture  and  ability  as  Michigan  had 
among  its  citizens  while  it  remained  a  territory ; 
and  there  could  have  been  no  just  excuse  for  treat- 
ing it  as  a  community  unfit  to  govern  itself,  and 
requiring  rulers  sent  in  from  abroad  to  govern  it. 
This  had  been  necessary  in  the  case  of  the  North- 
west Territory,  for  the  settlement  was  in  its  in- 
fancy and  everybody  was  a  new-comer  when  the 
organization  took  place ;  and  it  was  excusable 
also  in  the  cases  of  earlier  appointments  for  Mich- 
igan, considering  its  peculiar  population  and  cir- 
cumstances. The  excuse  no  longer  existed  in 
view  of  the  large,  intelligent,  and  self-respecting 
population  which  the  territory  had  acquired. 


JACKSON'S  APPOINTMENTS   TO  OFFICE.      207 

But  a  period  had  now  arrived  constituting  a 
new  era  in  American  politics,  when  for  a  long 
time  no  general  maxim  of  government  was  to  be 
so  powerful  at  Washington  as  the  maxim  that  to 
the  victor  belong  the  spoils  of  office.  This  maxim 
of  war,  when  war  meant  robbery  and  plunder,  was 
now  being  adopted  in  the  civil  administration  of 
the  government,  and  was  to  vitalize  all  political 
life  and  be  the  chief  spring  of  all  political  action 
and  energy.  As  the  people  of  the  territories  had 
no  vote,  they  constituted  no  part  of  the  victors 
who  had  captured  and  taken  possession  of  the  gen- 
eral government,  and  were,  therefore,  entitled  to 
no  consideration  in  the  distribution  of  rewards. 
These  must  go  to  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and 
other  states,  where  many  citizens  who  had  shown 
their  patriotism  by  their  labors  in  electing  the 
president  were  now  waiting  in  expectation  of  re- 
ceiving their  share  in  the  division  of  what  had 
been  won  at  that  election.  Personal  fitness  for 
office  was  found  in  the  fact  that  claims  had  been 
established  by  labors  in  securing  the  election  of 
the  presidential  incumbent,  and  this,  if  not  suffi- 
cient for  all  cases,  would  seem  to  have  been 
thought  ample  in  the  case  of  a  merely  territorial 
position.  But  circumstances  of  a  more  personal 
nature  might  also  have  some  influence,  and  it 
therefore  caused  no  surprise  when  Mr.  John  T. 
Mason  of  Virginia,  brother  -  in  -  law  to  the  late 
Postmaster-general  Barry,  but  wholly  ignorant  of 


208  MICHIGAN. 

the  territory  and  its  people,  was  appointed  terri- 
torial secretary.  What  fitness  he  might  have  de- 
veloped for  the  office  no  one  can  tell,  as  he  soon 
elected  not  to  discharge  its  duties,  and  went 
abroad  on  an  enterprise  for  private  parties.  The 
president  thereupon  transferred  the  appointment 
to  Stevens  T.  Mason,  his  son.  The  only  reason 
ever  advanced  for  this  selection,  and  the  only  one 
that  could  have  existed,  was  that  the  father  re- 
quested it.  ~* 

The  appointment  of  a  successor  to  Governor 
Cass  had  not  as  yet  been  made,  and  by  law  the 
new  secretary  would  be  acting  governor  and  also 
acting  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs.  A  rumor 
soon  spread  that  young  Mason  was  under  the  age 
of  legal  majority  ;  that  in  fact  he  was  but  nineteen 
years  of  age  ;  and  his  personal  appearance  indi- 
cated the  truth  of  the  rumor.  A  committee  of 
citizens  was  thereupon  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  facts ;  and  on  calling  upon  him  was  frankly 
told  by  the  young  gentleman  that  he  was  indeed 
under  age,  but  he  added  that  the  president  very 
well  knew  the  fact  when  he  made  the  appoint- 
ment. Young  as  the  secretary  was,  he  had  not 
failed  to  imbibe  the  spirit  which  was  dictating  the 
distribution  of  political  favors ;  and  he  justified 
the  appointment  to  the  committee  on  the  ground 
that  the  emoluments  of  the  office  were  needed 
for  the  support  of  his  father's  family  while  the 
father  was  absent  from  the  country.  To  a  com- 


THE  HUMOR   OF  THE  PRESIDENT.  209 

mittee,  some  of  whose  members  had  the  old-fash- 
ioned notion  that  offices  were  to  be  created  and 
filled  on  public,  not  on  private  considerations,  the 
reason  assigned  seemed  only  an  aggravation  of 
the  original  wrong.  The  papers  of  the  day  de- 
clared that  the  people  of  the  territory  were  out- 
raged by  this  attempt  to  place  a  boy  in  authority 
over  gray  heads.  Even  the  Indians,  it  was  said, 
would  know  better  than  this.  "  They  know,  if  we 
do  not,  that  age  and  talents  are  to  be  treated  with 
respect,  and  that  boys  are  not  to  mingle  in  the 
councils  of  the  elders  ;  much  less  to  assume  au- 
thority over  them."  But  the  people  wasted  breath 
and  the  editors  their  ink.  The  president  was 
taking  care  of  his  friends,  and  was  making  prece- 
dents to  be  followed  and  enjoyed  by  many  suc- 
cessors. If  it  pleased  him  to  send  a  boy  to  sit  in 
the  seat  of  Cass  and  play  governor,  complaints  of 
the  people  concerned  would  no  more  move  him 
than  the  howling  of  wild  beasts  in  their  forests. 
The  official  organ  at  Washington,  a  large  part  of 
whose  business  it  was  to  defend  removals  made  at 
the  mere  will  of  the  president,  did  indeed  take 
notice  of  the  complaints,  but  only  to  advance, 
with  assumed  gravity,  in  reply  to  their  protests, 
that  as  young  Mason,  whether  properly  appointed 
or  not,  was  now  in  office,  he  could  not  with  pro- 
priety be  removed  so  long  as  he  was  not  guilty  of 
official  misconduct ;  and  with  this  answer  the  peo- 
ple were  forced  to  content  themselves  as  best  they 

14 


210  MICHIGAN. 

might.  But  in  a  new  country,  with  much  that  is 
new  constantly  demanding  attention,  a  good-na- 
tured people  are  not  likely  to  nurture  resentments; 
and  when,  at  a  parting  banquet  to  the  late  gov- 
ernor, after  wine  had  flowed  freely  and  merriment 
was  at  its  height,  the  elder  Mason  appealed  to  the 
assembled  guests  to  "give  the  boy  a  trial,"  they 
responded  with  hearty  good  nature,  and  promised 
him  their  support. 

The  appointment  of  governor  fell  to  George  B. 
Porter  of  Pennsylvania,  a  lawyer  in  large  practice 
whose  engagements  kept  him  away  from  the  terri- 
tory for  nearly  a  year,  and  who  was  frequently 
absent  afterwards.  Mason  was,  therefore,  acting 
governor  for  nearly  the  whole  remaining  period  of 
territorial  existence.  But  the  boy-governor  was 
conciliatory  in  his  ways  ;  he  was  genial  according 
to  the  customs  of  the  times  ;  there  was  very  little 
for  him  to  do  until  the  boundary  controversy  with 
Ohio  broke  out,  and  when  it  did,  he  pleased  the 
people  by  the  spirited  manner  in  which  he  es- 
poused .and  defended  the  rights  of  the  territory, 
and  in  the  end,  after  by  actual  occupancy  of  the 
office  he  had  acquired  some  fitness  for  its  duties, 
his  administration  became  as  popular  as  at  first  it 
had  been  obnoxious. 

But  Jackson  was  not  satisfied  with  sending  on 
executive  officers  from  distant  states  ;  he  removed 
the  judges,  who  were  performing  their  duties  satis- 
factorily, that  he  might  give  their  places  to  gen- 


IMMIGRATION  INTO  MICHIGAN.  211 

tlemen  from  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  who 
wanted  them.  One  of  the  judges  removed  was 
William  Woodbridge,  an  able  lawyer  and  an  up- 
right man,  whose  character  was  above  reproach. 
The  feeling  against  his  removal  was  very  strong 
and  the  members  of  the  bar  gave  expression  to 
it  in  a  public  testimonial.  Seven  years  later  he 
became  governor  of  the  State,  and  was  shortly 
al'ter  elected  senator  in  Congress. 

The  stream  of  immigration  continued  to  pour 
into  the  territory,  and  early  in  1832  the  question 
of  applying  for  admission  to  the  Union  began  to 
be  agitated.  The  major  part  of  the  immigration 
was  from  New  England,  New  York,  and  Ohio,  and 
was  of  people  accustomed  to  self-rule,  who  valued 
highly  the  privilege  of  choosing  their  own  officers. 
They  were,  besides,  coming  to  understand  how 
invaluable  were  the  natural  resources  of  the  terri- 
tory, and  were  vaguely  forming  in  their  minds 
schemes  for  development  by  means  of  canals  and 
railroads.  It  was  supposed  there  were,  by  this 
time,  fifty  thousand  people  in  the  territory,  and  in 
another  year  there  would  be  more  than  sixty 
thousand.  It  was  one  of  the  articles  of  compact 
in  the  Ordinance  of  1787  that  so  soon  as  any  of  the 
three  or  five  states  to  be  formed  out  of  the  North- 
west Territory  "  shall  have  sixty  thousand  free  in- 
habitants therein,  such  state  shall  be  admitted  by 
its  delegates  into  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  states 


212  MICHIGAN. 

in  all  respects  whatever."  It  seemed  proper, 
therefore,  to  take  the  opinion  of  the  people  on  the 
question  of  forming  a  state  government,  and  an 
election  was  held  in  the  fall  of  1832  at  which  a 
large  majority  of  votes  was  cast  for  the  proposi- 
tion. But  other  matters  were  this  year  interesting 
the  people  more  than  matters  of  government. 
War  with  Indians  on  the  Mississippi,  known  as 
Black  Hawk's  War,  had  broken  out  and  spread  a 
vague  terror  through  the  country  as  far  easj;  as 
Lake  Erie.  The  cholera  also  made  its  appearance 
in  Michigan,  and  its  ravages  at  Detroit  were  so 
alarming  that  hundreds  fled  in  dismay  to  the 
woods  where  many  died  or  were  devoured  by  wild 
beasts.  The  troops  sent  forward  by  steamboat  to 
the  scene  of  military  operations  died  in  such  num- 
bers that  general  panic  prevailed,  and  the  solemn 
custom  of  ringing  the  passing  bell  for  the  departed, 
which  up  to  this  time  had  been  observed  in  De- 
troit, became  so  continuous  and  so  fearful  a  mes- 
sage of  warning  in  the  ears  of  the  people,  and 
added  so  much  to  the  general  alarm  that  it  was 
discontinued.  Cases  of  cholera  continued  to  occur 
for  the  next  two  years,  and  in  July,  1834,  Gov- 
ernor Porter  himself  died  of  it.  President  Jack- 
son nominated  Henry  D.  Gilpin  of  Pennsylvania 
to  the  vacancy^  but  the  Senate  refused  to  con- 
firm him  and  no  further  attempt  was  made  to  fill 
the  place.  ^ 

Before  the  alarm  caused  by  the  cholera  had 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  MICHIGAN.  213 

passed  away,  Detroit  was  excited  by  a  negro  riot 
which  led  to  the  most  disquieting  apprehensions 
of  arson  and  general  plunder.  There  were  now 
considerable  -numbers  of  negroes  in  the  town, 
some  of  whom  were  fugitives  from  slavery ;  and 
it  was  from  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  return 
two  of  these  to  their  master  that  the  riot  arose. 
Some  fires  occurring  near  the  time  were  attrib- 
uted to  a  purpose  by  the  negroes  to  burn  the  town  ; 
the  mayor  of  the  city,  in  alarm,  called  upon  the 
secretary  of  war  for  military  protection,  and  a 
company  of  soldiers  was  sent.  But  the  alarm  was 
probably  without  further  cause  than  must  always 
exist  when  a  considerable  part  of  the  population 
is  held  in  public  estimation  and  treatment  as  de- 
graded, and  it  soon  died  away. 

At  this  time  Michigan  was  enlarged  by  the  ad- 
dition of  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  and 
north  of  Missouri,  as  far  west  as  the  Missouri  and 
White  Earth  rivers,  and  counties  were  laid  out 
in  that  distant  country.  But  the  people  were 
now  becoming  earnest  in  their  desire  for  state  gov- 
ernment. A  census  was  ordered  in  1834,  which 
showed  that  there  were  within  that  portion  of  the 
territory  which  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787  was  to 
constitute  one  of  the  five  states  87,278  inhab- 
itants ;  considerably  more  than  were  necessary  to 
entitle  it  to  admission 'as  a  state  in  the  Union 
under  the  compact.  Congress  was,  therefore,  me- 
morialized to  set  off  the  western  teriitory  from 


214  MICHIGAN. 

Michigan  ;  and  in  anticipation  of  compliance  the 
people  west  of  Lake  Michigan  were  allowed  to 
name  one  of  their  own  number  for  a  delegate  in 
Congress.  In  April,  1835,  an  election  was  held  of 
delegates  to  a  state  convention  for  forming  a  state 
constitution,  and  this  convention  met  at  Detroit 
in  May  and  agreed  upon  a  constitution  which  was 
submitted  to  the  people  and  approved  by  them  in 
October. 

This  action  excited  a  boundary  controversy 
with  Ohio  which  threatened  serious  consequences. 
To  understand  its  merits  it  is  necessary  to  go  back 
to  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  One  of  the  Articles  of 
Compact  of  the  ordinance  was  that  there  should 
be  formed  in  the  Northwest  Territory  thereby 
organized  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  five 
states,  and  the  boundaries  were  designated.  If 
three  were  formed,  they  were  to  be  bounded  on 
the  east  and  west  by  lines  which  now  constitute 
the  east  and  west  boundaries  of  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Illinois  respectively,  but  continued  north  to 
the  national  boundary.  But  Congress  reserved  the 
right  to  form  one  or  two  states  in  that  part  of 
the  territory  which  lay  north  of  an  east  and  west 
line  drawn  through  the  southerly  bend  or  ex- 
treme of  Lake  Michigan.  This  was  declared  to 
be  an  article  of  compact  "  between  the  original 
states  and  the  people  and  the  states  in  said  terri- 
tory," and  by  the  express  terms  of  the  ordinance 
was  to  "  forever  remain  unalterable  unless  by 


CONTROVERSY   WITH  OHIO.  215 

common  consent,"  and  it  never  by  common  con- 
sent had  been  abrogated  or  changed.  On  the 
contrary,  in  the  enabling  act  for  the  admission  of 
Ohio  to  the  Union,  the  northern  boundary  of  that 
State  had  been  made  an  east  and  west  line  drawn 
through  the  southern  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan, 
running  east  from  its  intersection  with  a  due  north 
line  from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami,  to  Lake 
Erie  or  the  territorial  line,  and  thence,  with  the 
territorial  line  through  Lake  Erie  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania line.  The  act  providing  for  the  organization 
of  the  Territory  of  Michigan  had  made  this  same 
northern  boundary  of  Ohio  the  southern  boundary 
of  Michigan,  and  the  setting  off  of  that  territory 
with  a  western  boundary  extending  through  the 
centre  of  Lake  Michigan  to  its  northern  point  and 
thence  north  to  the  national  boundary,  was  re- 
garded as  conclusive  of  the  election  of  Congress  to 
form  five  states  instead  of  three  out  of  the  North- 
west Territory ;  the  farther  territory  west  of  Lake 
Michigan  having  been  afterwards  attached  to 
Michigan  for  merely  temporary  purposes  of  gov- 
ernment. The  people  of  Michigan  had,  therefore, 
two  rights  solemnly  guarantied  to  them  by  the 
ordinance,  neither  of  which  could  be  taken  from 
them  without  their  consent.  These  were,  first,  to 
have  a  line  drawn  due  east  from  the  southern  ex- 
treme of  Lake  Michigan  for  their  southern  bound- 
ary, and,  second,  to  be  admitted  to  the  Union  as 
a  state  on  reaching  a  population  of  sixty  thou- 


216  MICHIGAN. 

sand.  Up  to  this  time  the  Territory  had  exercised 
jurisdiction  to  the  line  in  dispute,  had  appointed 
officers,  collected  taxes,  and  granted  charters  to 
corporations  which  were  now  without  contention 
exercising  their  corporate  functions. 

On  the  other  hand  it  was  said  with  truth  by  Ohio, 
that  when  the  Ordinance  of  1787  was  adopted,  the 
true  location  of  the  southern  extreme  of  Lake 
Michigan  was  not  known,  and  was  supposed  to  be 
much  farther  north  than  it  actually  was  ;  that, 
by  some  well-informed  people,  it  was  supposed, 
even  so  late  as  when  Ohio  was  made  a  state,  to  be 
so  far  north  that  a  line  drawn  due  east  from  it 
would  leave  the  Frenchtown  settlement  to  the 
south  of  it  and  therefore  within  Ohio;  but  the 
convention  which  adopted  the  constitution  for  that 
state,  under  the  enabling  act  of  Congress,  in  order 
to  provide  for  the  contingency  of  the  line  running 
farther  to  the  south  than  was  commonly  supposed, 
had  accepted  the  northern  boundary  with  the  pro- 
viso "that  if  the  southerly  bend  or  extreme  of 
Lake  Michigan  should  extend  so  far  south  that  a 
line  drawn  due  east  from  it  should  not  intersect 
Lake  Erie,  or  if  it  should  intersect  said  Lake 
Erie  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Miami  river  of  the 
Lakes,  then,  and  in  that  case  with  the  assent  of 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  the  northern 
boundary  of  this  state  shall  be  established  by 
and  extend  to  a  line  running  from  the  southerly 
extreme  of  Lake  Michigan  to  the  most  northerly 


CONTROVERSY  WITH  OHIO.  217 

extreme  of  the  Miami  Bay,  after  intersecting  the 
due  north  line  from  the  mouth  of  the,Great  Miami 
River  aforesaid,  thence  northeast  to  the  territorial 
line,  and  by  the  said  territorial  line  to  the  Penn- 
sylvania line."  Congress,  after  the  constitution 
containing  this  proviso  had  been  adopted,  had 
declared  Ohio  a  state  in  the  Union,  and  this,  it  was 
claimed,  was  an  implied  consent  to  the  proviso. 
Congress  had  since  admitted  the  States  of  In- 
diana and  Illinois  to  the  Union,  and  in  each 
instance  had  carried  the  northern  boundary  con- 
siderably to  the  north  of  a  line  drawn  through 
the  southerly  bend  or  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan ; 
and  this,  it  was  insisted,  as  the  supreme  legislative 
authority  of  the  Union,  it  had  undoubted  power 
to  do,  whatever  view  might  be  taken  of  the  ordi- 
nance as  a  "compact."  This  last  claim  was  dis- 
puted by  Michigan,  as  being  equivalent  to  a  claim 
that  one  party  to  a  compact  may  annul  it  at  its 
own  pleasure ;  but  it  was  also  denied  that  in  the 
case  of  the  boundary  between  Ohio  and  Michigan 
Congress  had  ever  consented  to  any  change.  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  shown  that  Ohio  had  applied 
for  the  consent  of  Congress  to  the  boundary  as 
proposed  by  the  proviso  above  given,  and  had  not 
succeeded  in  obtaining  it.  The  case  between  Ohio 
and  Michigan  stood,  therefore,  upon  the  Ordinance 
of  1787,  unaffected  by  subsequent  congressional 
action ;  and  what  had  been  done  in  the  cases  of 
Indiana  and  Illinois  did  not  in  any  way  complicate 


218  MICHIGAN. 

or  affect  it.  Possibly  those  cases  might  become 
the  subjects  of  legal  controversy,  and  if  they  should, 
it  would  be  time  enough  to  consider  them. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  question  when 
Governor  Lucas  of  Ohio,  early  in  1835,  procured 
legislation  in  his  state  for  taking  possession  of  the 
disputed  territory,  which  included  the  present  city 
of  Toledo,  for  the  election  of  officers  for  it,  and  for 
running  and  marking  the  boundary  line  accord- 
ing to  the  Ohio  claim.  Michigan  responded  with 
legislation  making  it  highly  penal  to  accept  or 
exercise  any  public  office  within  the  territory,  ex- 
cept under  commission  of  the  United  States  or 
of  Michigan.  It  was  not  long  before  the  militia 
were  called  out  on  both  sides  to  enforce  the  re- 
spective claims.  An  armed  collision  being  thus 
imminent,  the  president  took  notice  of  the  contro- 
versy and  called  upon  the  attorney-general  for  his 
opinion.  The  attorney  -  general  responded  that 
until  Congress  should  give  express  assent  to  the 
change  in  the  Ohio  boundary,  the  territory  in  dis- 
pute must  be  considered  as  belonging  to  Michigan. 
The  position  was  an  embarrassing  one  to  the  pres- 
ident. It  would  be  his  duty,  under  the  opinion  of 
the  attorney-general,  to  restrain  the  proceedings 
of  the  Ohio  authorities,  and  to  employ  for  that 
purpose  the  military  power  if  necessary.  But  this 
might  lose  the  State  of  Ohio  to  the  party  of  which 
the  president  was  the  head ;  and  it  was  already  a 
great  state  and  might  possibly  hold  the  balance  of 


ORGANIZATION  OF   THE  STATE.  219 

power  in  the  next  presidential  election.  He  might 
also  displease  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
both  of  which  were  interested  adversely  to  the 
Michigan  claim.  Here  were  three  great  states, 
with  considerable  votes  in  the  electoral  college, 
on  one  side,  and  a  territory  with  no  vote  at  all  on 
the  other ;  and  John  Quincy  Adams  might  well 
say,  as  he  did :  "  Never  in  the  course  of  my  life 
have  I  known  a  controversy  of  which  all  the  right 
was  so  clear  on  one  side,  and  all  the  power  so 
overwhelmingly  on  the  other ;  never  a  case  where 
the  temptation  was  so  intense  to  take  the  strong- 
est side,  and  the  duty  of  taking  the  weakest  was 
so  thankless."  The  president,  feeling  the  temp- 
tation and  dreading  the  duty,  sent  Mr.  Richard 
Rush  and  Mr.  B.  C.  Howard  as  peace  commis- 
sioners to  arrange  the  difficulty,  but  their  efforts 
were  without  avail.  Toledo  was  the  real  subject 
of  the  controversy ;  it  was  indivisible,  and  there 
could  be  no  compromise  in  respect  to  it. 

Meantime  the  situation  was  greatly  complicated 
by  the  organization  of  a  state  government  in 
Michigan,  and  the  assumption  of  state  powers. 
At  the  same  time  that  the  constitution  was  voted 
upon,  state  officers,  executive  and  legislative,  were 
elected  provisionally,  who,  on  the  adoption  of 
that  instrument,  assumed  their  respective  offices. 
Stevens  T.  Mason,  acting  governor  of  the  Ter- 
ritory, was  elected  governor  of  the  State,  and  Ed- 
ward Mundy,  lieutenant-governor;  judges  were 


220  MICHIGAN. 

appointed  and  courts  organized  ;  the  legislature 
met  and  elected  Lucius  Lyon  and  John  Norvell 
United  States  senators.  Isaac  E.  Crary,  at  the 
general  election,  had  been  chosen  representative 
in  Congress.  All  this  was  done  under  the  claim 
that,  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  the  people,  now 
that  the  population  exceeded  sixty  thousand,  had 
an  absolute  and  indefeasible  right  to  form  a  state 
government ;  and  the  representatives  of  the  State 
went  on  to  Washington  to  demand  admission  to 
the  seats  in  Congress  to  which  they  claimed  by 
right  to  be  entitled. 

It  was  very  certain,  however,  that  though  Michi- 
gan might  have  a  right  to  recognition  as  a  state,  the 
right  was  not  so  far  absolute  as  that  its  observance 
could  be  compelled.  Congress  alone  could  recog- 
nize a  state  as  a  member  of  the  Union,  and  admit 
its  representatives  to  seats  in  the  two  houses;  and 
if  it  should  refuse  to  do  this,  even  in  the  plainest 
case  of  right,  no  means  or  method  of  compelling 
it  to  take  the  proper  action  could  possibly  exist. 
Michigan,  if  a  state  in  fact,  was,  therefore,  a  state 
out  of  the  Union,  and  must  stay  out  of  the  Union 
until  it  should  please  Congress  to  grant  admission. 
Nor  was  it  at  all  probable  that  admission  would 
be  granted  while  the  boundary  controversy  with 
Ohio  remained  undetermined.  The  president  was 
known  to  be  displeased  with  the  action  of  Acting 
Governor  Mason  in  respect  to  that  controversy, 
and  in  September,  1835,  he  appointed  to  succeed 


MR.  HORNER  NOT  GOVERNOR  DE  FACTO.     221 

him  as  governor  John  S.  Horner  of  Virginia,  a 
y filing  man  as  ignorant  of  the  territory  and  of  the 
people  as  Mason  bad  been  when  first  appointed. 
When  it  is  considered  that  Michigan,  at  this  time, 
had  a  population  of  not  less  than  a  hundred 
thousand  people,  and  that  there  could  probably 
be  found  in  every  organized  county  many  persons 
better  fitted  to  be  their  governor  than  the  man 
sent  on  to  occupy  that  office,  the  abuse  of  the 
appointing  power  in  the  case  is  seen  to  have  been 
most  flagrant.  The  appointee  came  on  and  at- 
tempted to  act  as  pacificator,  but  instead  of  be- 
ing received  with  respect,  he  was  treated  with 
indifference  or  subjected  to  practical  jokes,  and  in 
a  public  meeting  held  at  Detroit  it  was  plainly 
intimated  that  the  people  would  not  be  displeased 
to  see  him  relinquish  the  duties  of  his  office  and 
return  to  the  land  of  his  nativity. 

It  was  evident  that  Mr.  Horner  was  not  acting 
governor  of  Michigan,  whatever  might  be  his  legal 
right  or  title.  The  president  directed  him  not  to 
recognize  the  pretended  state  officers  and  state 
courts ;  but  his  action  in  this  regard  was  of  no 
importance ;  they  were  recognized  by  the  people, 
and  they  proceeded  in  the  exercise  of  the  ordinary 
powers  of  sovereignty,  while  he,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  was  an  officinl  nonentity.  He  was  not 
long  in  becoming  convinced  that  his  official  im- 
portance, if  not  his  personal  comfort,  would  be 
enhanced  by  removal  beyond  Lake  Michigan,  to 


222  MICHIGAN. 

the  portion  of  the  territory  which,  in  organizing 
the  State,  had  not  been  included  within  it ;  and 
he  adopted  that  course  and  disappeared  from 
Michigan  history. 

But  the  condition  of  things  in  which  a  state 
was  exercising  powers  of  sovereignty  within  the 
limits  of  federal  jurisdiction  but  not  in  the  Union 
was  too  anomalous  for  long  continuance.  The 
president  desired  to  bring  it  to  an  end,  and  Con- 
gress agreed  upon  a  proposition  for  the  admission 
of  the  State  on  condition  of  its  resigning  the  dis- 
puted territory  to  Ohio  and  accepting,  instead,  a 
much  larger  territory,  since  known  as  the  Upper 
Peninsula,  which  included  valuable  mines  of  cop- 
per and  iron.  This  proposition  was  submitted 
to  Michigan  to  be  acted  upon  by  a  convention  of 
delegates  chosen  by  the  people  for  the  purpose, 
and  if  accepted  the  State  was  to  be  immediately 
received  into  the  Union.  But  the  belligerent 
feeling  was  still  too  strong  for  this  compromise ; 
and  in  a  convention  of  delegates  held  at  Ann 
Arbor,  September  4,  1836,  it  was  rejected  by  an 
emphatic  vote.  Thus  a  settlement  of  the  difficulty 
was  apparently  as  far  off  as  ever. 

But  the  interests  favoring  admission  were  now 
daily  growing  more  and  more  powerful.  The 
president's  wishes  on  the  subject  were  well  known 
to  his  active  partisans,  who  constituted  a  strong 
and  growing  party  and  had  chosen  the  state  offi- 
cers. A  presidential  election  was  pending  and  a 


THE  FROST-BITTEN  CONVENTION.  223 

very  natural  desire  existed  to  participate  in  it.  A 
distribution  of  the  public  lands  or  their  proceeds 
was  one  of  the  issues  of  the  day,  and  if  it  took 
place  it  would  be  unfortunate  if  Michigan  should 
fail  to  receive  its  share.  The  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives chosen  to  seats  in  Congress  were  natu- 
rally anxious  to  occupy  them,  and  politicians  were 
equally  anxious  to  be  recognized  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  federal  patronage.  And  the  state  officers, 
though  supported  by  the  people  and  in  the  undis- 
turbed possession  of  their  offices,  could  not  fail  to 
realize  the  fact  that  acquiescence  by  the  federal 
authorities  in  the  present  condition  of  things  would 
only  be  temporary,  and  that  the  time  must  come 
when  there  would  be  a  conflict  in  which  the  State 
could  scarcely  fail  to  be  overborne.  In  short,  it 
was  manifest  that  Congress  was  master  of  the  situ- 
ation ;  and  that  however  clear  might  be  the  right 
of  the  State,  it  must  sooner  or  later  accept  such 
terms  as  should  be  dictated  to  it.  A  movement 
for  another  convention  was  therefore  soon  on  foot, 
which  assumed  to  represent  the  whole  people, 
though  in  fact  originating  in  the  caucuses  of  the 
Jackson  party,  and  representing  that  party  almost 
exclusively.  It  suited  the  purposes  of  the  movers 
in  it  to  speak  of  their  action  as  the  "  action  of  the 
people  in  their  primary  capacity  ;  "  a  high-sound- 
ing phrase  seeming  to  imply  some  right  and  often 
made  use  of  when  the  purpose  is  to  accomplish 
something  of  questionable  nature  by  setting  aside 


224  MICHIGAN. 

for  the  time  the  constitution  or  the  laws.  Dele- 
gates were  accordingly  chosen  under  the  forms 
of  regular  election  who  convened  at  Ann  Arbor, 
December  6,  1836,  and  with  no  more  authority 
than  any  party  caucus,  assumed  in  the  name  of 
the  State,  the  sovereign  power  of  accepting  the 
proposition  of  Congress.  No  pretense  could  be 
more  baseless  than  this  assumption  of  authority 
by  the  convention  ;  people  ridiculed  its  meeting 
and  christened  it  the  "  frost-bitten  "  convention ; 
but  the  dominant  party  in  Congress  found  it  con- 
venient to  accept  its  action  as  a  solemn  act  in  state 
government,  and  on  January  26,  1837,  the  State 
was  declared  to  have  accepted  the  proposition  of 
Congress  and  thereby  to  have  become  a  member 
of  the  Federal  Union. 

The  act  which  thus  assumed  to  admit  Michigan 
to  the  Union  upon  a  false  assumption  of  fact  was 
one  which  it  would  have  been  idle  to  quarrel  with 
or  condemn.  The  State  could  not  maintain  its 
anomalous  position,  and  for  any  wrong  in  its 
treatment  only  Congress  could  give  redress.  The 
courts,  as  the  seceding  states  discovered  in  the 
reconstruction  period,  are  powerless  to  control 
purely  political  action,  or  to  call  it  in  question  for 
any  purpose.  The  governor  protested,  but  at  the 
same  time  admitted  the  folly  of  allowing  a  boot- 
less grief  to  delay  admission  to  the  Union.  The 
grief  was  neither  very  deep  nor  very  lasting.  The 
State  had  maintained  its  honor  in  standing  upon 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  STATE.          225 

its  rights,  and  the  compromise  which  by  a  species 
of  fraud  was  forced  upon  it  gave  more  than  it  took 
away,  and  left  the  State  a  decided  gainer  in  the 
transaction.  The  governor  did  not  dismiss  the 
subject  without  indulging  in  ranch  rhetoric  to  show 
how  greatly  the  State  had  been  wronged,  thus 
affording  the  opposition  a  fine  opportunity  for 
ridiculing  "the  hero  of  the  bloodless  plains  of 
Toledo"  for  unbuckling  his  sword  and  coming 
down  from  his  high  horse  so  tamely ;  but  if  all 
his  important  acts  had  shown  equal  wisdom,  there 
would  have  been  little  in  his  administration  to  re- 
member with  condemnation.  The  mock  heroics 
put  the  people  in  good  humor,  and  they  turned 
with  cheerful  spirits  to  their  peaceful  avocations 
as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  readily  forgetting 
and  forgiving  the  wrong  which  was  so  far  from 
having  harmed  them.  The  successor  of  Governor 
Mason  went  again  over  the  grounds  of  complaint 
in  his  first  message,  but  this  was  a  re-threshing  ef 
old  straw,  and  nobody  took  any  interest  in  it. 

The  constitution  under  which  the  State  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Union  was  carefully  restricted  to 
prescribing  the  fundamentals  of  government  and 
the  general  framework  of  official  organization,  and 
did  not,  as  so  many  recent  essays  in  that  direction 
have  done,  enter  the  field  of  legislation.  In  this 
respect  it  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  model.  Six 
month's  residence  in  the  State  was  made  sufficient 
for  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise,  but,  with 

15 


226  MICHIGAN. 

singular  liberality,  any  white  male  inhabitant  who 
was  resident  in  the  State  at  the  time  of  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  was  given  the  ballot,  even 
though  not  a  citizen.  This  made  many  recent  im- 
migrants from  Europe  voters  in  both  state  and 
federal  elections,  and  furnished  a  striking  illus- 
tration of  a  sentiment  very  prevalent  at  the  time, 
that  the  coming  to  America  to  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  its  institutions  was  of  itself  an  evidence  of  fit- 
ness to  take  part  in  administering  its  government. 
It  was  much  like  the  sentiment  developed  during 
the  civil  war,  that  the  oppressed  race  which  had 
been  intensely  patriotic  when  the  life  of  the  nation 
was  threatened  by  its  enemies  might  be  safely 
trusted  with  the  ballot  when  peace  was  restored. 

Michigan  was  the  thirteenth  of  the  new  states 
admitted  to  the  Union  "  on  an  equal  footing  with 
the  original  states  :  "  its  acceptance  of  the  consti- 
tution doubled  the  count  of  the  states.  It  was  a 
grand  Union  to  which  the  State  was  admitted,  and 
it  was  made  such  by  a  constitution  which  was 
worthy  of  everlasting  regard  and  affection.  But 
the  time  had  not  yet  come  when  the  people  of  the 
states  were  to  look  to  the  nation  more  than  to  the 
state  as  the  government  in  which  their  interests 
were  chiefly  concerned.  The  tide  of  national  feel- 
ing was  just  now  flowing  very  strong,  for  Jackson 
by  his  proclamation  and  Webster  by  his  masterly 
speeches  against  nullification  had  rallied  the  two 
great  political  parties  to  the  sentiment  with  which 


REMOTENESS   OF  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.     227 

Jackson  had  begun  his  administration,  —  "The 
Federal  Union  ;  it  must  be  preserved."  But  the 
original  constitution  was  still  maintained  in  its 
integrity,  and  the  dispute  over  the  right  of  nullifi- 
cation had  done  nothing  to  diminish  or  weaken 
proper  state  powers  under  it.  It  had  only  deter- 
mined, so  far  as  the  expressed  will  of  the  people 
could  do  so,  that  the  Union  under  the  constitution 
of  Washington  and  Hamilton  and  Madison  was  to 
be  perpetual. 

The  states  under  that  constitution  were  very  far 
from  being  dependent  provinces  or  inferior  munici- 
palities. Under  the  apportionment  of  powers  as 
between  state  and  nation,  the  people  looked  to  the 
national  government  for  very  little  that  touched 
their  every-day  life.  The  general  government 
had  charge  of  foreign  relations ;  but  these  only  in 
a  distant  and  imperfect  manner  interested  the  peo- 
ple at  large,  except  when  there  seemed  to  be  dan- 
ger of  unfriendly  relations  with  other  countries. 
The  general  government  levied  taxes  for  its  own 
purposes,  but  for  the  most  part  it  laid  them  as 
indirect  taxes,  and  they  were  scarcely  perceived 
by  the  people  as  burdens.  It  coined  money,  but 
in  the  early  period  of  its  history  the  major  part 
of  the  coin  in  circulation  was  of  foreign  coinage, 
and  nearly  all  of  the  paper  currency  was  the  bills 
of  banks  existing  under  state  charters  which  had 
been  authorized  by  state  law.  It  passed  bank- 
rupt laws,  but  these  were  only  for  emergencies  and 


228  MICHIGAN. 

were  soon  repealed.  Only  in  the  postal  service 
did  it  appear  before  the  people  as  a  daily  and 
hourly  benefactor  and  friend.  The  whole  subject 
of  the  domestic  relations  was  left  to  the  states: 
the  subject  of  contracts  and  domestic  trade  ;  of 
wills  and  the  descent  of  property  ;  of  land  titles 
and  the  administration  of  estates ;  of  the  making 
of  highways  and  of  their  use  and  control  after 
being  made  ;  of  providing  schools  and  furnishing 
the  means  of  education  to  the  people ;  of  granting 
charters  of  incorporation,  and  all  that  infinite  va- 
riety of  rules  and  regulations  known  as  laws  of 
police,  which  are  ever  present  and  all  about  the 
citizen,  his  business  and  his  property,  prescribing 
limitations  and  setting  bounds  to  use  and  enjoy- 
ment even  in  respect  to  that  which  is  unquestion- 
ably his  own,  that  he  may  not  unreasonably  en- 
croar-h  upon  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  their  own 
by  others.  State  power  and  state  law  were  thus 
present  at  all  times,  touching  the  citizen  for  his 
advantage  and  direction  in  all  his  relations:  by 
his  fireside  as  much  as  in  his  business ;  in  his  mar- 
riage ;  in  the  control,  management,  and  education 
of  his  children ;  in  the  labor  he  employed  ;  in  the 
civil  and  religious  organizations  to  which  he  at- 
tached himself;  in  the  breaking  up  of  the  domes- 
tic relations  if  unhappily  that  should  occur;  in 
the  final  arrangement  of  his  affairs  for  death ;  in 
the  enforcement  of  debts  for  and  against  him  in 
life  and  for  and  against  his  estate  after  death ;  in 


THE  STATE  NEARER  THAN  THE  UNION.   229 

short,  in  nearly  everything  which  had  for  him  and 
those  associated  with  him — whether  in  kinship 
or  socially  or  in  business  —  an  every-day  interest ; 
it  was  only  in  respect  to  his  mail  that  the  state 
did  not  chiefly  concern  him.  The  federal  govern- 
ment seemed  a  distant  power,  indispensable  as  a 
shield  against  foreign  animosities  or  encroach- 
ments ;  and  once  in  four  years  the  citizen  was 
likely  to  get  warmed  up  in  the  course  of  the  presi- 
dential campaign  so  as  to  feel  a  deep  interest  in 
the  result,  but  this  would  be  as  often  because  he 
had  inherited  a  place  in  one  of  the  parties  of  the 
day  as  from  any  deep  conviction  that  he  had  a 
personal  concern  in  the  choice  the  people  would 
make.  It  was  the  state  that  was  an  ever-present 
beneficence,  in  whose  doings  he  had  a  constant  and 
immediate  interest,  and  to  whose  provident  ar- 
rangements he  owed  daily  and  hourly  obligations. 
But  he  felt  the  state  in  its  burdens  also :  the  taxes 
imposed  were  considerable,  and  they  were  also 
direct ;  the  citizen  never  paid  them  without  know- 
ing it,  as  he  might  pay  customs  duties,  or  other 
indirect  taxes  ;  and  he  had  therefore  an  immedi- 
ate interest  in  seeing  that  they  were  not  levied 
for  any  but  proper  public  purposes,  and  not  ex- 
pended dishonestly  or  wastefully.  Almost  all  the 
local  officers,  except  the  postmaster,  were  also  pro- 
vided for  and  chosen,  under  state  laws ;  so  that  in 
every  way  the  state  seemed  vastly  more  important 
to  the  citizen  than  the  nation ;  and  the  range  of 


230  MICHIGAN. 

subjects  over  which  it  had  supreme  control  was 
so  vast,  and  the  subjects  themselves  so  important, 
that  state  sovereignty  seemed  to  the  fireside  phi- 
losophers, as  they  discussed  politics  with  each 
other,  a  more  palpable  and  conspicuous  constitu- 
tional reality  than  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union. 
It  was  somewhat  different  in  the  large  commercial 
towns,  where  foreign  trade  was  considerable,  and 
also  in  towns  where  large  expenditures  were  made 
for  military  and  naval  purposes,  or  land  offices  lo- 
cated; but  the  agricultural  and  laboring  classes  of 
the  country  naturally  attached  themselves  to  state 
interests ;  and  as  parties  divided  on  the  construc- 
tion of  federal  powers,  the  majority  tended  to  the 
party  that  proposed  to  maintain  in  all  their  integ- 
rity the  rights  of  the  states. 

Then  the  courts  for  tlie  administration  of  jus- 
tice were,  for  the  most  part,  state  courts,  and  the 
state  regulated  civil  rights  and  prescribed  and  pun- 
ished crimes.  The  federal  judiciary  had  under 
its  control  the  subjects  of  bankruptcy  and  admi- 
ralty, of  controversies  between  states,  and  contro- 
versies in  which  foreign  countries  or  their  people 
might  be  concerned ;  and  citizens  of  different 
states  might  implead  each  other  in  federal  courts  ; 
and  there  were  a  few  other  cases  which  might  be 
there  brought.  But  nearly  all  the  litigation  of 
the  countiy  was  in  the  state  courts :  they  were 
the  courts  in  which  neighborhood  controversies 
were  determined  ;  they  sat  with  a  neighborhood 


A  NATURAL  STATE  PRIDE.  231 

jury  and  they  were  the  courts  whose  doings  were 
immediately  before  the  people  and  enlisted  their 
interest  and  attention. 

The  time  had  not  yet  come  for  great  expendi- 
tures of  money  by  the  general  government  upon 
works  of  internal  improvement,  or  for  great  gifts 
of  land  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  such  works. 
The  party  of  strict  construction  of  federal  powers 
was  in  the  ascendency,  and  disputed  the  power  of 
the  nation  to  make  highways  in  the  states,  except 
as  for  strictly  national  purposes  it  might  become 
important.  Neither  had  the  time  for  high  pro- 
tective duties  yet  come  to  interest  great  numbers 
of  people  in  the  customs  taxes,  and  bring  great 
lobbies  to  Washington. 

It  may  well  be  said,  therefore,  that  it  was  some- 
thing to  be  proud  of,  to  be  a  member  of  a  com- 
monwealth possessing  the  sovereign  powers  which 
were  possessed  by  the  states  of  the  American 
Union  ;  and  the  people  of  Michigan  accepted  their 
place  as  citizens  of  the  twenty-sixth  state,  not  with 
pride  merely,  but  with  unbounded  confidence  in 
its  future. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  STATE   AND   ITS   ELEMENTS. 

THE  period  of  immaturity  and  tutelage  was  at 
last  over,  and  the  people  who  constituted~*the 
political  society  had  become  a  state  in  the  Amer- 
ican Union  with  sovereign  powers.  They  were 
well  entitled  to  a  recognition  of  this  privilege  of 
independent  action,  for  their  numbers  were  am- 
ple, the  average  of  intelligence  was  high,  and  the 
elements  of  a  vigorous  and  self-respecting  state 
were  to  be  seen  on  all  sides  in  abundance. 

The  French-Canadian  element  was  still  con- 
spicuous along  all  the  eastern  border  of  the  state, 
and  the  increase  was  large  and  continuous,  though 
the  proportion  relatively  to  the  whole  population 
was  all  the  while  diminishing.  The  grades  of 
society  among  this  people  ran  from  highest  to 
lowest :  many  of  them  boasted,  with  much  pride, 
of  aristocratic  descent,  and  had  inherited  large 
wealth ;  and  these  constituted  an  intelligent  and 
refined  society  into  which  the  better  classes  of 
other  nationalities  were  glad  to  be  admitted.  At 
the  other  extreme  in  the  social  scale  were  the 
eoureurs  de  bois  and  voyageurs,  who  still  were  to 


THE  FRENCH  FARMS.  233 

be  found  in  considerable  numbers,  though  their 
occupations,  except  upon  the  upper  waters,  were 
for  the  most  part  gone  ;  the  fur  trade  in  Michi- 
gan being  no  longer  the  large  and  profitable  com- 
merce it  once  was,  and  no  considerable  parties 
being  now  organized  to  conduct  it.  But  these  rov- 
ing characters  still  gathered  about  the  old  French 
settlements,  and  took  up,  when  they  labored  at 
all,  such  occupations  as  made  their  lives  most 
nearly  correspond  to  those  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  lead.  Many  became  professional  fisher- 
men ;  others  got  to  be  draymen  and  petty  express- 
men with  little  carts  and  ponies.  And  then  above 
these  lowest  classes,  the  French  in  and  about  the 
towns  were  found  in  numerous  employments ; 
many  being  market-gardeners  and  hucksters,  many 
others  merchants  in  a  small  way ;  and  whatever 
the  business,  women  were  not  unfrequently  the 
principals  in  carrying  it  on.  But  this  people  had 
their  part  in  more  extensive  operations  also ;  and 
some  of  the  leading  and  most  prosperous  business 
men  were  of  this  nationality. 

French  farms  may  almost  be  said  to  have  lined 
the  river  from  the  mouth  of  the  Detroit  to  Lake 
St.  Clair ;  their  houses  fronted  upon  the  road 
which  ran  along  the  river  bank,  and  there  was 
only  a  narrow  belt  of  cultivation  behind  them, 
bordered  by  dense  forest,  in  which  wolves,  bears, 
and  other  wild  animals  still  offered  pastime  to  the 
sportsmen.  The  agriculture  of  the  farmers  was 


234  MICHIGAN. 

of  the  most  primitive  character  ;  the  plow,  except 
the  share,  was  of  wood  ;  with  a  wooden  wheel  on 
either  side  of  the  long  beam,  the  one  small  to  run 
on  the  land  side,  and  the  other  larger  to  run  in 
the  furrow.  Oxen  were  fastened  to  this  plow  by 
a  pole  which  had  a  hinged  attachment ;  they  were 
not  yoked,  but  the  draught  was  by  thongs  or 
ropes  fastened  about  their  horns.  A  little  two- 
wheeled  cart  into  which  was  fastened  a  pony,  or 
perhaps  a  cow  or  steer,  was  the  principal  farm 
vehicle.  The  early  farmers  did  not  appreciate  the 
value  of  manure  in  agriculture,  and  removed  it 
out  of  their  way  by  dumping  it  in  the  river,  but 
they  were  beginning  now  to  learn  in  that  regard 
better  ways.  The  houses  for  the  most  part  were 
of  a  single  story  with  a  plain  veranda  in  front ; 
and  here  in  pleasant  weather  would  gather  the 
household  for  domestic  labor  and  social  recreation. 
The  houses  of  the  wealthier  classes  were  of  hewed 
logs,  with  a  large  chimney  occupying  the  space  of 
a  room  in  the  centre,  and  a  garret  hung  with  fes- 
toons of  drying  or  dried  fruits,  pumpkins,  garlics, 
onions,  arid  medicinal  and  culinary  herbs.  The 
family  washing  was  done  at  the  river,  and  the 
pounding  of  the  clothes  was  with  a  little  hand 
mallet,  after  the  method  of  their  ancestors  from 
time  immemorial.  Everywhere  the  spinning-wheel 
was  in  use,  and  the  madam,  with  just  pride  in  her 
deftness,  made  the  clothing  for  the  family.  The 
kitchen  was  a  common  gathering-room  for  the 


SIMPLICITY  0V' MANNERS.  235 

family,  who  liked  to  see  the  cookery  going  on, 
with  pots  and  kettles  and  spiders  in  an  open  fire- 
place. Around  many  of  the  old  houses  and  yards 
were  pickets  of  cedar,  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  height, 
which  were  originally  planted  for  defense  against 
the  Indians ;  but  the  Indians  who  had  their 
homes  about  the  towns  were  no  longer  feared,  and 
were  generally  nominal  Catholics  and  well  treated. 
The  only  fastening  to  the  front  door  of  the  house 
was  a  latch  on  the  inside,  which  was  raised  to 
open  the  door  by  a  strip  of  leather  or  deer's  hide 
run  through  a  hole  in  the  door,  and  hanging  down 
on  the  outside.  When  the  latch-string  was  drawn 
in  the  door  was  fastened  ;  but  so  marked  an  indi- 
cation of  distrust  or  inhospitality  was  seldom  wit- 
nessed, as  no  one  —  not  even  an  Indian  —  would 
be  guilty  of  so  great  a  breach  of  propriety  as  to 
lift  the  latch  and  cross  the  threshold  without  per- 
mission of  the  owner.  The  family  when  leaving 
the  house  temporarily  did  not  therefore  deem  it 
necessary  to  fasten  the  door. 

The  horse  in  common  use  was  so  small  as  to  be 
considered  and  called  a  pony,  and  was  reputed  to 
be  a  cross  of  the  wild  Mexican  horse  with  mares 
captured  at  the  time  of  Braddock's  defeat.  The 
French  had  been  long  enough  in  the  country  to 
have  old  orchards  of  apples  and  pears :  pear-trees 
fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  height,  and  bearing  in  a  sea- 
son thirty  or  even  fifty  bushels  of  fruit  were  not 
uncommon,  and  the  fruit,  though  not  of  the  high' 


236  MICHIGAN. 

est  quality  to  eat  out  of  hand,  was  unsurpassed 
for  culinary  purposes.  There  were  crude  cider 
mills,  and  much  cider  was  made  for  domestic  use. 
Peaches  were  raised,  also,  of  a  poor  and  common 
sort,  and  from  these  distilled -in  rum  a  drink  was 
made  which  was  much  used. 

The  French,  whether  rich  or  poor,  educated  or 
ignorant,  were  always  polite,  light-hearted,  gay, 
and  buoyant,  and  always  fond  of  sports  in  which 
old  and  young  could  participate  together.  ~*Fes- 
tivals  were  kept  with  unrestrained  enjoyment : 
New  Year's  especially,  when  every  child,  whatever 
the  age,  was  expected  to  kneel  for  the  paternal 
blessing ;  when  calls  were  made  upon  all  ac- 
quaintances, presents  exchanged  between  friends, 
and  every  lady  was  expected  to  submit  to  be 
saluted  with  a  kiss  upon  the  cheek.  Mardi  Gras 
and  Easter  were  also  festivals  of  great  enjoyment, 
but  Lent  came  with  devotional  aspect,  and  was 
scrupulously  kept.  They  were  a  church-going 
people,  and  many  religious  customs  were  still 
kept  up  which  were  destined  to  die  out.  The 
christening  and  baptizing  of  the  church  bell  was 
one  of  these,  and  so  was  the  distributing  of  the 
blessed  bread  in  church  in  commemoration  of  the 
love-feasts  of  the  early  Christians.  But  when 
church  services  were  over  on  Sunday  sports  were 
in  order,  and  the  return  home  was  likely  to  be  a 
scene  of  boisterous  merriment  and  of  pony  racing 
by  the  young  men.  The  marriage  of  young  people 


DETROIT  IN  1837.  237 

was  a  great  occasion,  for  they  understood  well  that 
the  church  did  not  allow  of  divorces,  and  the 
marriage  was  in  fact  what  it  purported  to  be,  a 
binding  for  better  or  for  worse  for  life.  Regularly 
it  was  preceded  by  a  formal  contract  before  a 
notary  ;  the  bans  were  published  for  three  suc- 
cessive Sundays  in  church,  and  the  wedding  fes- 
tivities were  kept  up  for  several  days.  But  man 
or  woman  who  after  losing  the  spouse  married  a 
second  time,  and  especially  a  third  time,  must 
expect  a  charivari,  with  which  no  police  officer 
would  trouble  himself  to  interfere.  The  average 
of  education  among  the  people  was  low,  for  many 
never  went  to  school  at  all,  and  the  church  schools, 
in  which  most  of  the  education  was  given,  were  not 
of  a  high  order,  and  taught  catechism  more  than 
grammar  or  arithmetic.  The  ladies  were  fond  of 
gay  and  picturesque  dresses  and  of  flowers  and 
other  simple  decorations  for  themselves  and  their 
homes,  and  in  these  particulars  good  taste  was 
general. 

Detroit  in  this  year  1837  had  become  a  consid- 
erable town,  having  now  perhaps  eight  thousand 
people.  Old  wind-mills  upon  which  the  people 
formerly  relied  for  the  grinding  of  cereals  were 
coming  now  to  be  disused,  though  some  were  still 
standing.  The  noble  river  in  front  of  the  town 
offered,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  many  induce- 
ments to  sports  and  festivities,  of  which  all  classes 
of  the  people  were  eager  to  avail  themselves.  la 


238  MICHIGAN. 

the  winter,  when  frozen  over,  it  became  the  prin- 
cipal highway,  and  was  gay  with  the  swift-going 
vehicles.  A  narrow  box  upon  runners  wide  apart 
made  the  common  sleigh,  and  the  ponies,  some- 
times driven  tandem,  seemed  to  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  racing  almost  as  much  as  their  masters. 
When  there  was  no  snow  the  little  cart  was  the 
common  vehicle  of  land  carriage  for  all  classes  of 
the  people  ;  ladies  went  in  it  to  churches  and  to 
parties,  and  made  fashionable  calls,  being  seated 
on  a  buffalo  robe  spread  on  the  bottom,  and  they 
were  backed  up  to  the  door  at  which  they  wished 
to  alight,  and  stepped  upon  the  threshold  from  it. 
Now  and  then  there  was  a  family  which  had  a 
caleche ;  a  single  carriage  with  the  body  hung 
upon  heavy  leathern  straps,  with  a  small  low  seat 
in  front  for  the  driver,  and  with  a  folding  top  to 
be  raised  in  sun  or  rain.  But  the  cart  was  a  con- 
venience which  all  classes  could  enjoy  and  appre- 
ciate, and  it  was  especially  adapted  to  a  town  like 
Detroit,  which  was  built  upon  a  clay-bank,  and 
bad  as  yet  neither  sidewalk  nor  pavement. 

Many  Scotch  were  now  among  the  business  men 
of  Detroit,  with  a  fondness  for  making  money, 
and  a  shrewd  knack  at  doing  so.  There  were  also 
some  Irish  and  some  English,  but  the  major  part 
of  the  people  who  were  not  French  were  of  Amer- 
ican birth.  Among  these  there  were  now  being 
established  —  what  in  fact  had  existed  before, 
though  not  in  much  strength — societies  for  liter- 


RIVAL  SETTLEMENTS.  239 

ary  culture  and  enjoyment.  The  Detroit  Young 
Men's  Society  was  one  of  them,  which  for  twenty 
years  was  to  be  an  important  institution  in  the 
town,  and  the  training-school  of  governors,  sen- 
ators, and  judges.  At  the  barracks,  though  there 
was  none  now,  there  would  shortly  be  a  small 
military  force  to  preserve  peace  on  the  frontier ; 
and  the  officers  and  their  families  would  consti- 
tute an  important  and  valuable  addition  to  the 
society  of  the  place  at  all  times. 

Detroit  during  the  territorial  period  had  to  a 
large  extent  monopolized  political  offices  and  in- 
fluence, but  though  still  the  capital  and  the  com- 
mercial metropolis,  its  political  domination  had 
dwindled  to  a  disputed  hegemony.  Important 
towns  were  springing  up  all  over  the  southern 
part  of  the  State,  and  several  of  them  were  already 
prominent,  and  had  public  journals  which  were 
conducted  with  ability,  and  citizens  who  were  well 
known  abroad  and  whose  influence  was  felt  in 
other  sections.  Monroe,  Ann  Arbor,  Marshall, 
Tecumseh,  Pontiac,  and  Adrian  were  the  largest 
of  these,  and  none  of  them  was  without  ambi- 
tious men  who  aspired  to  leading  positions  in  state 
affairs,  and  with  ability  to  justify  the  aspiration. 
Wealth  was  as  yet  an  unimportant  source  of  in- 
fluence, for  there  were  few  men  of  special  prom- 
inence in  that  regard  The  merchants  handled 
most  money:  they  went  once  or  twice  a  year  to 
New  York  to  buy  goods,  and  in  the  country  they 


240  MICHIGAN. 

were  obliged  to  keep  general  assortments  of  dry 
goods,  wet  and  dry  groceries,  hardware,  and  boots 
and  shoes ;  but  wants  were  moderate  in  those  days, 
and  the  stock  though  general  in  kind  was  small  in 
amount  and  cheap  in  quality.  By  far  the  larger 
part  of  the  people  were  small  farmers  who  were 
now  busy  in  bringing  their  land  under  cultivation  ; 
their  fortunes  were  in  their  .farms,  and  they  sub- 
ordinated everything  else  to  converting  their  own 
labor  into  substantial  and  permanent  value*  in 
improvements.  Most  of  them  were  of  New  Eng- 
land descent ;  all  the  New  England  States  were 
represented  among  them,  and  Vermont  especially 
had  sent  a  large  contingent  who  were  tired  of 
rocky  hillsides.  But  the  majority  were  one  gen- 
eration removed  from  New  England,  being  de- 
scendants of  those  who  settled  in  New  York  and 
Ohio.  Western  New  York,  especially,  was  largely 
represented ;  the  purchasers  by  "  article  "  from  the 
great  land  companies  of  that  district,  having  in 
many  cases  found  themselves  unable  to  complete 
their  payments,  had  been  glad  to  sell  their  "  bet- 
terments "  for  enough  to  buy  a  lot  of  government 
land  in  Michigan  and  move  with  their  families 
upon  it. 

It  was  a  hard  life  which  the  pioneer  farmers  of 
Michigan  had  come  to  lead.  A  rude  log  cabin  for 
a  home,  and  the  bare  necessaries  of  life  for  their 
families  contented  them  while  they  were  clearing 
their  lands ;  and  the  lessons  of  industry  and  econ- 


THE  SUPPLY  OF  FOOD.  241 

omy  would  have  been  forced  upon  them  by  the 
situation  even  if  they  had  not  learned  them  before, 
as  the  most  of  them  had.  When  the  cheapness  of 
land  is  taken  into  account,  their  farms  must  be 
deemed  small,  averaging  perhaps  a  hundred  and 
1  wenty  acres ;  and  hard  labor  and  the  chills  and 
fever  incident  to  the  clearing  of  a  new  country 
gave  them  sallow  complexions  and  made  them  pre- 
maturely old  ;  but  in  coming  to  Michigan  they  had 
calculated  not  so  much  upon  their  own  immediate 
advantage  as  upon  giving  their  children  an  oppor- 
tunity to  "  grow  up  with  the  country ;  "  and  they 
accomplished  all  they  had  counted  on  if  they  could 
see  that  year  by  year  their  possessions  increased 
in  value,  and  could  rely  with  confidence  upon  giv- 
ing their  children  the  rudiments  of  education  and 
a  fair  start  in  the  world,  and  on  being  independ- 
ent in  their  circumstances  in  their  old  age.  Even 
now,  though  they  could  not  supply  all  their  wants 
from  their  farms,  they  contracted  few  debts,  but 
postponed  purchases  when  they  had  nothing  to 
barter  for  the  articles  they  desired. 

Of  meats  salt  pork  was  the  staple,  and  many  of 
the  people  rarely  had  any  other,  but  all  had  wheat 
or  corn  bread  and  potatoes,  and  a  hearty  appetite 
need  crave  nothing  better.  Many  orchards  were 
planted,  but  few  were  as  yet  in  bearing,  and  fruit 
was  a  rare  luxury ;  the  people  had  little  money 
with  which  to  procure  it  from  the  Eastern  States, 
and  none  at  all  to  expend  in  the  extravagance  of 

16 


242  MICHIGAN. 

Southern  fruits,  which  in  after  years  were  to  be- 
come so  common.  They  were  forced,  therefore,  to 
be  content  with  the  wild  fruits  of  the  country.  Of 
the  wild  crab  or  wild  plum  a  preserve  was  made 
which  was  palatable  as  a  relish  to  the  monotonous 
diet  of  pork,  and  if  a  few  wild  strawberries  could 
be  gathered  in  June,  or  blackberries  later,  they 
were  great  as  well  as  rare  luxuries.  In  the 
swamps  cranberries  could  be  found  to  a  limited 
extent,  and  on  sandy  plains  whortleberries,  but 
the  resources  in  all  these  directions  were  limited 
and  exceptional.  For  a  time  there  would  be  deer, 
wild  turkeys,  and  other  game  in  considerable 
quantities,  but  the  pioneer  farmers  of  Michigan 
had  little  time  to  give  to  sport,  and  those  who 
engaged  very  much  in  it  were  likely  to  become  so 
far  fascinated  with  its  excitements  as  to  fall  grad- 
ually into  the  life  of  thriftless  wood-range  re. 
On  the  prairies  wild  bees  were  abundant,  and  in 
the  fascinating  pages  of  Cooper  one  may  read  how 
men  became  skillful  in  following  them  to  their 
homes  and  robbing  them  of  their  delicious  stores. 
In  some  parts  of  central  and  northern  Michigan 
the  maple-tree  furnished  sugar  orchards,  and  the 
Indians  who  still  lingered  in  the  State  were  sugar 
makers  to  a  considerable  extent.  They  also  gath- 
ered berries  in  their  season  for  barter  with  the 
white  settlers,  camping  in  temporary  colonies  for 
the  purpose. 

Few  of  the  pioneers  had  brought  their  spinning- 


PRIMITIVE   CUSTOMS.  243 

wheels  with  them,  for  as  yet  there  were  but  few 
sheep  in  the  State,  and  by  the  time  wool  had  be- 
come abundant,  the  old  ways  of  working  it  up  had 
passed  away.  For  a  while  the  material  for  gar- 
ments, which  in  rural  New  England  and  New 
York  were  home-made,  must  be  bought ;  but 
cheap,  coarse  cloth  answered  the  purpose,  and  the 
wives  and  daughters  made  it  up  for  use.  The 
pioneers  could  not  be  particular  about  other  quali- 
ties of  their  cloth  than  those  of  wear  and  comfort, 
and  nobody  would  criticise  the  style  or  the  fit. 
Silks  for  the  woman  and  broadcloth  for  the  man 
were  rare  extravagances ;  many  a  bridegroom  des- 
tined to  become  an  important  personage  in  busi- 
ness and  political  circles  went  to  the  altar  in  Ken- 
tucky jean,  and  received  his  bride  in  calico ;  and 
the  wedding  journey  from  the  bride's  home  to  the 
husband's  was  made  with  an  ox-team  which  was 
prized  more  than  would  be  a  chariot  and  four  be- 
cause of  what  it  promised  in  farm  improvement. 
If  it  was  winter  the  vehicle  might  be  a  home- 
made sled  with  bent  saplings  for  runners ;  and 
nothing  could  be  better,  for  nothing  could  be 
more  suited  to  the  times.  There  was  little  senti- 
mentality in  this,  but  there  was  New  England 
hard  sense,  and  good  promise  of  domestic  virtues 
and  contentment. 

In  early  times  pioneers  sometimes  made  meal 
of  their  corn  by  pounding  it  in  a  hollow  stump, 
but  this  was  seldom  done  at  this  time.  Other 


244  MICHIGAN. 

contrivances,  however,  which  were  nearly  as  prim- 
itive, were  sometimes  resorted  to.  One  ingenious 
person  had  constructed  a  mill,  which  answered  an 
admirable  purpose,  by  felling  a  tall  tree  and  exca- 
vating a  trough  the  whole  length  of  it  on  the 
upper  side  as  it  lay.  The  trough  was  a  foot  in 
width  at  the  top,  narrowing  as  it  deepened ;  a 
small  quantity  of  corn  was  poured  into  it,  and 
was  then  ground  into  meal  by  means  of  a  heavy 
wooden  wheel  rolling  over  it.  The  wheel  wals  a 
section  cut  from  the  butt  of  the  tree,  and  shaped 
to  fit  the  trough,  and  was  rolled  back  and  forth 
by  two  persons  who  took  the  ends  of  a  pole  which 
was  run  through  the  centre  of  it.  The  use  of  the 
mill  was  free  to  all,  and  it  was  a  great  neighbor- 
hood convenience.  But  wheat,  rather  than  corn, 
was  the  staple  bread  food  in  Michigan,  and  these 
rude  contrivances  would  not  make  flour.  The 
grist  mill  must  be  resorted  to ;  and  that  might  be 
a  day's  journey  away,  and  the  farmer  who  went 
that  distance  with  his  small  grist  was  never  quite 
sure  that  he  would  not  find  the  mill  out  of  repair, 
or  not  running  from  want  of  water,  or  because  the 
miller  was  prostrated  by  one  of  the  fevers  inci- 
dent to  a  new  co'untry ;  and  then  he  might  be 
compelled  to  go  farther  to  another  mill,  or  to  re- 
trace his  steps  and  repeat  his  tedious  journey  at 
another  time. 

Except  in  southwestern  Michigan  where  there 
were  prairies,  the  first  necessity  of  the  time  was 


THE  RELIGIOUS  CONDITION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.    245 

to  get  rid  of  the  forest,  and  the  short  way  to  get 
rid  of  it  was  to  cut  and  burn  it  without  discrimi- 
nation. For  none  of  it  was  there  a  market,  and 
many  a  great  black  walnut,  the  growth  of  centu- 
ries and  fit  for  the  adornment  of  a  palace,  was 
given  to  the  flames  because  it  cumbered  the 
ground.  In  clearing  up  the  farm  the  whole  family 
could  take  useful  part;  the  man  chopped  and  piled 
the  logs,  the  woman  piled  and  burned  the  brush, 
leaving  the  babe,  if  there  was  one,  in  some  con- 
venient shade  where  it  would  be  kept  quiet  in 
watching  the  busy  proceedings.  The  pine  country 
was  not  as  yet  much  invaded  by  settlers,  and  the 
tulip-tree  or  white-wood,  which  was  light  and 
easily  worked,  was  the  favorite  tree  for  lumber. 
Saw-mills  of  the  primitive  sort  were  common,  and 
the  farmers,  as  fast  as  they  were  able  to  do  so,  put 
up  a  "  framed  "  house  and  moved  into  it,  leaving 
the  log  cabin  as  a  common  store-house  and  work- 
shop for  rainy  days.  The  moving  from  the  old 
house  into  the  new  was  the  second  stage  of  pio- 
neer life,  and  there  was  likely  to  be  a  "  house- 
warming,"  of  which  a  dance  was  the  chief  feature. 
Of  the  religious  condition  of  the  people  little 
need  be  said.  Though  there  were  many  excel- 
lent and  sincerely  religious  persons  among  them, 
religion  had  not  been  a  motive  with  them  in 
coming  into  the  wilderness.  They  had  come  to 
better  their  temporal  condition,  and  the  hardships 
and  privations  of  every  sort  which  are  incident 


246  MICHIGAN. 

to  life  in  the  woods  they  had  expected  to  submit 
to  cheerfully.  The  Canadian  French  had  their 
priests  and  maintained  regular  church  services, 
but  as  to  the  main  part  of  the  population  Mich- 
igan might  be  regarded  as  missionary  ground. 
Many  devoted  Christians  were  for  years  without 
opportunity  to  attend  church  services ;  and  some 
so  greatly  longed  for  the  society  of  their  brethren 
in  Christian  communion  that  they  would  go  a 
day's  journey,  or  even  farther,  to  attend  a  meet- 
ing. The  several  denominations  sent  missionaries 
hither  who  came  expecting  to  undergo  great  hard- 
ships and  submit  to  many  privations,  and  none 
were  disappointed  in  tliat  regard.  The  Meth- 
odists were  commonly  first  in  gathering  congrega- 
tions in  the  new  settlements,  and  the  circuit  rider 
was  often  a  character  of  note;  rough  and  unlet- 
tered and  ready  to  boast,  perhaps,  that  the  Lord 
had  been  his  teacher  from  the  Bible,  and  not  the 
school- masters  with  their  foolish  grammars.  But 
such  men  were  often  sincere  and  earnest,  and  be- 
ing all  things  to  all  men,  gathered  considerable 
churches  and  laid  the  foundation  upon  which 
others  more  competent  afterward  built.  This  was 
the  day  of  camp-meetings  and  revivals,  and  strange 
scenes  were  sometimes  witnessed  when  people  had 
"  the  power "  and  fell  to  the  ground  helpless. 
Rough  characters  gathered  at  such  meetings  for 
excitement  and  mischief,  and  they  often  became 
scenes  of  wild  disorder  and  pugilistic  encounters. 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  FRIENDS.        247 

But  it  sometimes  happened  that  those  who  came 
to  scoff  remained  to  pray.  At  this  time  there 
were  many  churches  of  other  denominations ;  of 
Baptists  and  Presbyterians  especially,  and,  in 
some  places,  of  Episcopalians;  and  these,  except 
the  Episcopalians,  had  their  occasional  revival  or 
protracted  meetings.  In  the  country  districts, 
the  school-house  was  generally  the  place  for  re- 
ligious meetings,  and  perhaps  the  same  house 
would  be  occupied  by  two  or  more  denominations 
alternately,  morning  and  evening,  or  on-  successive 
Sundays.  But  church  edifices  began  to  multiply 
rapidly.  Said  hopeful  Abi  Evans,  in  a  letter  from 
her  solitary  cabin  in  Tecumseh  in  1824,  "Per- 
haps I  may  see  the  day  when  the  gospel  may  be 
preached  at  our  place."  It  was  now  but  thirteen 
years  since  her  letter  was  written,  and  there  were 
several  churches  near  enough  to  her  home  to  be 
reached  by  an  early  morning  walk  on  Sunday. 
But  this  was  an  exceptional  case ;  many  of  her 
sisters  who  were  not  so  fortunate  in  their  loca- 
tions would  live  longer  than  she  and  yet  pass 
away  without  having  similar  aspirations  gratified. 
In  southeastern  Michigan  were  many  people  of 
the  society  of  Friends,  commonly  called  Quakers, 
who  dressed  in  sober  drab  and  took  off  the  hat 
and  applied  title  of  honor  to  no  one.  These  had 
their  plain  meeting-houses  without  spire  or  bell, 
in  which  they  gathered,  and,  discarding  all  music, 
listened  to  words  of  wisdom  from  the  elders,  if 


248  MICHIGAN. 

the  spirit  should  move  them  to  speak.  The  speak- 
ers at  these  meetings  were  perhaps  as  often  as 
otherwise  women,  who  seemed  to  have  special 
gifts.  The  Friends  were  a  sober,  industrious, 
steady,  and  thrifty  people,  and  their  general  integ- 
rity and  fidelity  were  so  well  known  that  they 
were  often  invited  by  their  fellow  citizens  to  serve 
in  important  public  stations.  They  were  the  first 
of  the  people  to  raise  their  voices  against  slavery, 
and  the  fugitive  slave  was  always  befriendechand 
protected  by  them.  The  first  "  wood-notes  wild  " 
which  caught  the  ear  of  the  world  from  Michigan 
were  the  anti-slavery  poems  of  Elizabeth  Mar- 
garet Chandler ;  and  these  were  well  worthy  of 
being  listened  to  and  of  being  held  in  lasting  re- 
membrance. Some  of  the  few  negroes  in  the 
State  were  fugitives  from  slavery,  but  they  felt 
safe  so  far  back  in  the  woods  with  sympathizing 
friends  about  them,  and  Canada  was  a  convenient 
refuge  in  case  attempts  were  made  at  their  recap- 
ture. 

Michigan  had  its  full  share  of  lawyers,  many  of 
whom  were  well  trained  in  their  profession,  and 
would  be  a  credit  to  it  anywhere.  Others  were 
untrained,  unlettered,  and  unkempt,  and  their  vul- 
garity and  insolence  would  be  tolerated  nowhere 
but  in  the  woods.  They  tried  small  cases  for 
smaller  pay  on  still  smaller  knowledge,  and  were 
never  so  well  satisfied  as  when  they  gained  a  suit 
by  a  trick.  Doctors  there  were  in  plenty,  too, 


POSTAL   FACILITIES.  249 

who  rode  the  country  on  horseback,  with  medi- 
cines in  saddle-bags,  and  dealt  out  such  doses  of 
calomel  and  jalap  as  would  seem  to  render  impos- 
sible the  survival  of  any  but  the  fittest.  But  in 
those  early  days  the  calls  upon  the  doctor  bore 
small  proportion  to  the  number  of  cases  of  disease  ; 
the  people  doctored  themselves  with  various  de- 
coctions of  bitter  herbs  and  other  simples  which 
were  popularly  supposed  to  have  healing  qualities. 
The  women  were  mid  wives  to  one  another  as  oc- 
casion required. 

The  postal  facilities  of  the  people  were  as  yet 
very  primitive.  The  railroad  from  Toledo  to 
Adrian  brought  a  daily  mail,  but  this  was  as  yet 
the  only  railroad  in  operation  in  the  State,  though 
considerable  had  been  done  on  the  roads  from 
Detroit  to  Pontiac,  Detroit  to  Ypsilanti,  and  Pal- 
myra to  Jackson.  But  the  daily  mail  was  not 
now  limited  exclusively  to  the  railroad ;  one  was 
sent  out  also  in  coaches  on  some  of  the  leading 
territorial  roads.  A  few  years  before  it  was  made 
subject  of  complaint  in  the  "  Detroit  Gazette"  that 
the  driver  of  the  coach  was  not  provided  with  a 
horn  to  announce  his  coming  ;  but  he  had  one  now 
and  he  sounded  it  vigorously  as  he  approached  a 
mail  station,  and  brought  his  horses  up  smoking, 
with  a  brisk  trot,  if  the  state  of  the  roads  was 
such  as  to  admit  of  it.  But  from  the  time  the 
fall  rains  set  in  until  the  roads  became  dry  in  the 
spring  there  was  little  brisk  movement  of  stage- 


250  MICHIGAN. 

coaches,  and  the  driver  must  be  content  if  he 
could  go  over  the  roads  at  the  rate  of  three  or 
four  miles  an  hour  without  any  breakdown.  And 
much  of  the  mail  service  of  the  State  was  done 
with  considerably  more  modest  conveyances  than 
coaches;  to  some  extent  with  lumber  wagons,  but 
much  more  largely  on  horseback.  A  horse  and  a 
boy  going  over  the  road  perhaps  twice  a  week 
were  sufficient  on  most  routes.  Congressional 
documents  were  not  at  this  time  sent  into  4-he 
State  by  the  ton,  the  people  took  few  papers,  and 
the  correspondence  by  letter  was  too  expensive  to 
be  much  indulged  in.  The  postage  on  a  letter 
from  the  old  home  of  most  of  the  people  was 
twenty-five  cents,  and  money  was  not  so  plenty  as 
to  admit  of  frequent  communication.  The  post- 
office  was  likely  to  be  a  box  in  one  corner  of  a 
store  or  tavern,  and  the  postmaster,  when  a  letter 
was  called  for,  turned  over  the  whole  pile  until  he 
found  it. 

The  backwoods  pioneers  were  not  without  their 
sports  ajid  pastimes.  The  State  paid  a  bounty  for 
the  scalp  of  the  wolf,  and  this  furnished  sufficient 
inducement  to  make  the  people  eager  to  trap  him. 
A  whole  neighborhood  sometimes  turned  out  to 
hunt  a  troublesome  bear  which  had  been  carrying 
off  swine,  and  once  a  year  or  so  they  would  di- 
vide into  two  parties  and  engage  in  a  great  con- 
test, to  see  which  should  bring  home  the  most 
game  of  all  kinds,  estimating  the  animals  from 


SOCIAL  CUSTOMS.  251 

bears  and  wolves  down  to  squirrels,  according  to 
imp  >rtance.  A  raccoon  heard  of  in  the  corn-field 
always  gave  occasion  for  extemporized  sport,  and 
the  young  farmer  was  seldom  so  much  fatigued 
by  his  day's  labor  as  to  be  disinclined  to  turn 
out  for  a  'coon  hunt  which  might  extend  far 
into  the  night  and  require  the  cutting  down  of 
one  or  more  large  trees.  Husking-bees,  after  corn 
harvest,  and  raising-bees  when  a  new  house  or 
barn  was  to  go  up,  were  occasions  for  general 
merriment,  and  something  to  drink  of  a  stimulat- 
ing nature  was  expected  on  these  occasions,  for  the 
day  of  tot.il  abstinence  had  as  yet  come  to  very 
few.  Still,  although  nearly  all  persons  drank 
occasionally,  an  habitual  drunkard  at  this  early 
d.iy  was  rarely  met  with.  In  the  winter,  if  snow 
fell  to  the  depth  of  two  or  three  inches,  a  sleigh- 
ing party  might  seem  to  spring  up  spontaneously, 
and  the  home-made  sleigh  was  amply  good  enough 
for  such  diversion.  An  old  furniture  box  or  a 
crockery  crate  filled  with  straw  made  a  good  body 
for  it,  and  as  many  rode  as  could  manage  to  find 
sitting  or  standing  room.  Every  tavern  had  its 
ball-room,  where  dancing  parties  were  given,  to 
which  any  one  might  come  who  could  purchase  a 
card  of  admission  ;  for  there  are  no  gradations  of 
society  in  a  new  settlement,  and  every  man  and 
every  woman  is  presumptively  respectable.  These 
parties  were  very  simple  affairs,  but  they  were  not 
for  that  reason  the  less  enjoyable  by  the  hard- 


252  MICHIGAN. 

working  pioneers.  The  spelling-school  furnished 
great  sport  also  :  whole  neighborhoods,  young  and 
old,  gathered  and  chose  sides  in  a  spelling  contest, 
and  the  youthful  prodigy,  perhaps,  spelled  all  the 
rest  down,  not  excepting  the  doctor  or  the  mer- 
chant who  were  educated  at  the  academy.  The 
amusement  reached  a  climax  when  the  master 
himself  was  caught  tripping  and  was  obliged  to 
take  his  seat  in  confusion.  The  morals  of  the 
people  at  this  time  were  better  than  appearances 
might  indicate.  Coarse  profanity  and  vulgarity 
were  heard  so  often  that  they  failed  to  shock  the 
hearer,  and  treating  at  a  public  bar  was  common 
when  friends  met  and  on  all  sorts  of  occasions. 
But  domestic  scandals  were  exceedingly  rare,  and 
divorces  almost  unknown.  Society  was  very  prim- 
itive and  there  was  little  courtesy  and  less  polish, 
but  there  was  no  social  corruption  and  parents 
had  faith  in  each  other  and  little  fear  for  the  mor- 
als of  their  children.  The  general  standard  of 
business  integrity  was  high,  and  as  the  time  had 
not  yet  come  when  great  funds  were  needed  for 
the  purposes  of  political  campaigns,  elections  were 
honestly  conducted. 

On  the  whole,  it  must  be  said  of  the  pioneers 
of  Michigan,  that  in  character  and  aims,  in  what 
they  were,  what  they  did,  what  they  suffered,  and 
what  they  accomplished,  they  deserve,  and  should 
have,  the  grateful  remembrance  of  those  who,  com- 
ing after  them,  reap  the  harvest  of  their  sowing. 


TEE  PATRIOT  AGITATION.  253 

This  year  began  in  Canada  the  "  Patriot  "  agi- 
tation, which  led  in  1838-39  to  partial  insurrec- 
tions, and  to  some  acts  of  violation  of  neutrality 
by  American  citizens  in  crossing  to  Canada  to  as- 
sist the  insurgents.  The  most  lamentable  of  these 
was  a  crossing  from  Detroit  to  Windsor  in  De- 
cember, 1838,  and  a  fight  resulting  in  the  loss  of  a 
number  of  lives.  The  occurrence  is  noteworthy 
here  only  as  it  evidenced  the  intense  sympathy 
of  the  people  with  the  struggle  of  any  other  peo- 
ple for  greater  liberty.  The  international  com- 
plications which  followed  were  settled  by  the 
treaty  of  1842  under  the  admirable  management 
of  Mr.  Webster,  which  reflected  new  honor  upon 
American  diplomacy,  already  so  illustrious. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

MONEY  IS  MADE  ABUNDANT  IN  THE  NEW  STATE. 

THE  new  State  was  now  in  the  Union,  and  it 
was  enjoying  the  benefits  of  an  immigration'"&l- 
most  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  mankind.  It 
w;is  not  the  movement  of  men  in  tribes  or  ag- 
gregate bodies,  impelled  by  necessity  or  by  polit- 
ical considerations  to  abandon  their  country  for 
another ;  but  it  was  an  immigration  of  individual 
families,  influenced  by  motives  which  affected 
them  severally,  and  by  an  expectation  that  they 
would  benefit  their  condition  in  so  doing.  Yet  the 
aggregate  number  was  enormous,  and  it  seemed 
like  the  migration  of  a  nation  coining  with  radiant 
hopes  to  take  possession  of  a  land  of  promise. 
Their  coming  seemed  to  make  the  State  rich;  for 
though  very  few  of  them  were  persons  of  consid- 
erable means,  the  most  of  them  came  as  pro- 
ducers, and  if  they  brought  nothing  else  they 
brought  a  capacity  for  labor  and  an  expectation 
that  by  labor  they  were  to  make  their  fortunes. 
Their  coming  had  rendered  necessary  many  new 
facilities  for  travel  and  business ;  and  the  legis- 
lature had  been  prompt  to  recognize  the  fact. 


LAND  SPECULAT-JONS.  255 

During  the  short  period  while  Michigan  had  been 
a  State  but  not  in  the  Union,  there  had  been  legis- 
lation providing  for  the  organization  of  fifty-seven 
townships,  and  the  laying  out  of  sixty-six  state 
roads ;  eleven  railroads  had  been  chartered  and 
nine  banks ;  and  permission  had  been  given  to 
construct  thirteen  darns  upon  navigable  waters  for 
manufacturing  purposes.  Much  of  this  legisla- 
tion  was  premature,  as  we  can  very  plainly  see 
now ;  but  it  did  not  then  seem  so  to  the  people. 
General  causes  were  inflating  prices  and  inciting 
to  speculation  all  over  the  country;  the  market 
values  of  land  were  rapidly  increasing,  and  the 
imaginations  of  men  were  so  far  excited  by  the 
great  changes  which  were  taking  place  on  every 
side,  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  suggest  a  scheme 
so  wild  or  so  improbable  that  it  should  be  with- 
out plausibility  in  some  minds.  Speculators  were 
eagerly  making  entry  of  all  the  government  land 
for  which  they  could  raise  money;  and  in  illustra- 
tion of  the  spirit  in  which  this  was  done,  an  in- 
stance is  given  in  which  two  brothers  made  pur- 
chase together  in  a  single  day  of  upwards  of  two 
hundred  and  forty  quarter  sections  of  land,  with- 
out even  taking  the  precaution  to  have  them  first 
visited  and  examined.  But  sales  by  individuals 
were  quite  as  active  as  sales  by  government ;  the 
great  majority  being  made  upon  small  payments 
down  and  the  purchasers  expecting  to  make  for- 
tunes from  the  rapid  rise  in  prices.  Thus  every- 


256  .  MICHIGAN. 

body  seemed  to  be  growing  rich  ;  and  though  much 
of  the  appearance  was  fictitious,  even  the  coolt-st 
heads  could  see  that  the  apparent  prosperity  had 
some  foundation,  and  that  in  the  rapid  settlement 
of  the  State  there  was  reason  for  a  steady  and 
considerable  increase  in  values. 

The  currency  of  the  country  naturally  and  nec- 
essarily demanded  early  attention.  At  this  time 
it  consisted  almost  exclusively  in  issues  of  state 
banks.  President  Jackson's  famous  specie  circtriar 
had  made  it  necessary  that  payments  for  govern- 
ment lands  should  be  made  in  gold  and  silver,  but 
what  was  made  use  of  for  this  purpose  did  not 
readily  find  its  way  into  the  channels  of  trade, 
and  if  it  had  done  so,  the  amount  of  coin  in  the 
country  would  have  been  found  wholly  inade- 
quate to  the  demands  of  business.  Nearly  all 
financial  transactions  were  therefore  necessarily 
carried  on  with  bank  paper,  and  the  most  of  this 
had  its  origin  outside  the  State.  A  hasty  glance 
at  the  condition  of  the  currency  in  territorial 
times  seems  a  necessary  introduction  to  any  ac- 
count of  early  state  legislation. 

The  people  of  Michigan  had  had  an  experience 
in  currency  as  extensive  and  diversified  perhaps 
as  that  of  any  other  people  in  the  world.  Much 
of  the  earliest  trade  was  with  wampum  ;  and  when 
this  proved  insufficient  for  the  wants  of  the  trade, 
furs  and  peltry  became  a  substitute,  —  the  beaver 
and  other  skins  commonly  dealt  in  having  each  a 


CONDITION  OF  THE   CURRENCY.  257 

recognized  value  in  the  market,  by  which  flour 
and  other  provisions,  liquors,  etc.,  were  bought  and 
sold.  But  these  primitive  devices  were  found 
quite  insufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of  trade 
during  the  period  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  merchants  made  their  due-bills  which  were 
received  as  change  in  business  transactions,  under 
an  expectation  that  they  would  pass  from  hand  to 
hand  as  currency.  In  1779  an  appearance  of 
legality  was  given  to  this  practice  by  the  gov- 
ernor, who  permitted  the  merchants  to  issue  bills 
expressly  designed  for  currency  ;  the  quantity  is- 
sued being  limited  to  the  estimated  value  of  their 
stocks  on  hand.  The  merchants  all  received  each 
other's  bills,  and  had  a  set  time  in  which  to  make 
their  exchanges  ;  and  though  losses  sometimes  oc- 
curred from  bankruptcy,  the  percentage  was  not 
great,  and  the  system  answered  for  the  time  a 
very  good  purpose.  All  the  while  there  was  some 
coin  in  circulation ;  and  this  consisted  largely  in 
Spanish  dollars,  which  for  convenience  in  change 
were  cut  into  halves,  quarters,  and  eighths.  The 
subdivision  invited  cheating,  which  became  after 
a  time  so  general  and  so  serious  that  in  1798  the 
grand  jury  presented  the  cut  money  as  a  nuisance, 
and  it  was  driven  out  of  circulation. 

The  attempt  made  in  1806  to  establish  a  bank 

at  Detroit  has. already  been  referred  to.    The  men 

concerned  in  this  scheme  and  who  were  to  supply 

the  capital   had  ample    means,  and   there  is  no 

IT 


258  MICHIGAN. 

reason  for  the  belief  that  anything  fraudulent,  or 
which  seemed  to  them  improper,  was  contem- 
plated. But  the  local  needs  required  no  such 
bank ;  and  if  it  acquired  a  circulation  at  all  com- 
mensurate to  its  capital,  it  must  find  it  in  distant 
parts  of  the  country.  Congress  disapproved  of  the 
charter,  and  the  bank  was  forced  to  discontinue 
business,  which  it  did  without,  so  far  as  we  know, 
any  considerable  loss  to  creditors.  A  few  of  the 
bills  failed  to  be  returned  for  speedy  redemption, 
and  Judge  Woodward,  the  first  president,  was  an- 
noyed some  years  afterwards  by  threats  of  suits 
upon  them.  He  was  more  annoyed  by  bitter  and 
unscrupulous  newspaper  attacks  upon  him  for  his 
connection  with  the  scheme,  which,  though  pub- 
lished at  Pittsburgh,  circulated  freely  among  his 
enemies  in  Detroit. 

The  presence  of  the  army  in  Detroit  caused  a 
considerable  expenditure  of  government  money, 
which  ceased  with  the  capture  by  the  British. 
Colonel  Proctor,  the  British  civil  governor,  then 
undertook  to  supply  to  some  extent  the  want  of 
local  currency  by  issuing  a  proclamation  making 
army  and  commissariat  bills  legal  tender,  under 
penalty  of  two  hundred  dollars  for  refusal  to  re- 
ceive them  as  such ;  but  this  was  in  the  nature  of 
a  forced  military  loan,  and  the  bills  disappeared 
when  the  British  occupation  ceased.  After  the 
war  much  money  was  brought  in  from  other  states 
to  meet  government  expenditures,  but  there  was 


CIRCULATION  OF  OHIO  CURRENCY.         259 

no  specie  in  circulation,  and  merchants  and  other 
individuals  and  corporations  issued  small  due-bills 
for  change ;  and  these  were  of  all  denominations 
from  five  dollars  down  to  one  cent.  Eve"n  churches 
contributed  to  the  wants  of  trade  by  this  "  shin- 
plaster  "  currency,  which  was  easily  counterfeited, 
as  Father  Richard  found  to  his  cost  when  his  bills 
issued  for  St.  Anne's  began  to  come  in  for  re- 
demption. 

In  1817  it  seemed  to  the  business  men  of  Detroit 
that  the  time  had  come  for  a  local  bank,  and  in 
December  of  that  year  a  charter  was  obtained, 
and  the  bank  put  in  operation  the  next  season. 
But  the  principal  circulation  in  the  territory  was 
now  Ohio  bank  bills ;  and  of  the  banks  which 
issued  them  little  was  or  could  be  known.  Some 
were  supposed  to  be  good  and  some  doubtful,  and 
in  1819  the  merchants  of  Detroit  appointed  a 
committee,  which  may  be  styled  a  vigilance  com- 
mittee, to  give  warning  of  danger  in  respect  to 
this  currency  as  occasion  should  arise.  But  Ohio 
currency  continued  to  be  more  abundant  than  any 
other  for  many  years,  and  serious  complaints  were 
made  that  the  disbursing  officers  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment made  their  payments  in  it.  The  wrong 
in  this  was  very  considerable ;  for  though  the  bills 
were  nominally  received  at  par,  they  were  really 
at  a  discount  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  per 
cent.  Merchants  could  not  make  use  of  them  in 
New  York  or  Boston  where  their  purchases  were 


260  MICHIGAN. 

principally  made,  and  a  large  sacrifice  upon  them 
was  inevitable.  As  the  banks  had  a  great  tempta- 
tion to  hold  out  inducements  to  the  circulation  of 
their  bills  at  a  distance  from  the  point  of  redemp- 
tion,  their  payment  by  officers  on  public  demands 
was  always  open  to  a  suspicion  of  official  cor- 
ruption, and  the  suspicion  generally  found  voice 
among  those  who  felt  that  they  were  wronged  by 
being  forced  to  take  the  paper.  But  for  this  there 
seemed  to  be  no  remedy :  the  general  fact~Vas 
that  the  people  took  in  their  ordinary  business 
transactions  whatever  (hey  found  in  circulation  as 
money,  and  if  they  distrusted  it  for  any  reason,  they 
were  only  the  more  prompt  in  passing  it  off.  By 
the  year  1822  small  coins  had  again  found  their 
way  into  circulation  to  an  extent  that  left  no 
excuse  for  the  fractional  currency  issued  by  indi- 
viduals, and  in  a  public  meeting  it  was  resolved 
no  longer  to  receive  it.  New  York,  New  England, 
and  Kentucky  bank-bills  were  now  to  some  extent 
circulating  in  the  territory,  but  the  need  of  local 
banking  facilities  was  becoming  urgent,  and  five 
years  later  two  banks  were  chartered,  only  one 
of  which,  however,  was  organized.  In  1829  two 
more  were  chartered  and  went  into  operation,  in 
1832  another,  and  in  1835  five.  Of  these  last 
one  was  located  west  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  two 
were  railroad  corporations  with  liberty  to  organize 
for  banking  purposes  also.  Eight  banks  were  in 
existence  when  the  state  government  was  organ- 


GENERAL   BANKING   LAW.  261 

ized,  and  seven  more  were  established  within  its 
limits  under  state  charters  before  the  State  was 
formally  admitted  to  the  Union.  For  the  most 
part  they  were  in  good  hands  and  managed  hon- 
estly, but  the  charters  were  almost  entirely  want- 
ing in  provisions  for  the  protection  of  bill-holders 
or  other  creditors.  A  "  safety  fund "  was  pro- 
vided for  by  general  law,  through  the  payment 
annually  to  the  state  treasurer  of  one  half  of  one 
per  cent,  upon  the  capital  stock  paid  in,  and  it 
was  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  debts 
of  any  bank  that  should  become  insolvent.  A 
bank  commissioner  was  also  provided  for,  with 
full  powers  of  examination  of  books,  papers,  and 
securities,  and  with  authority  to  take  steps  to 
enjoin  any  bank  which  was  proceeding  illegally  or 
improperly. 

It  would  seem  that  fifteen  banks,  which  was  an 
average  of  one  for  less  than  ten  thousand  people 
in  the  State,  ought  to  have  been  ample  for  the 
transaction  of  its  business ;  but  at  the  very  next 
session  of  the  legislature  the  number  of  new  char- 
ters applied  for  was  so  great  that  it  was  de- 
termined by  general  law  to  provide  the  means 
whereby  any  association  of  persons  who  could  fur- 
nish the  necessary  means,  and  give  proper  securi- 
ties for  the  protection  of  the  public,  might  by 
voluntary  action  assume  banking  powers.  The 
cry  of  monopoly  was  already  in  the  air  ;  and  this 
general  provision  for  converting  everybody  at 


262  MICHIGAN. 

pleasure  into  a  banker  was  adopted  "  upon  the 
plausible  principle  of  introducing  a  free  competi- 
tion into  what  was  considered  a  profitable  branch 
of  business  heretofore  monopolized  by  a  few  fa- 
vored corporations."  The  common  belief  was, 
that  in  banking,  as  in  other  kinds  of  business,  de- 
mand would  regulate  supply,  and  that  banks  would 
come  into  existence  only  when  and  where  there 
was  need  for  them,  and  where  capital  was  available 
for  the  purpose.  Then  if  it  was  found  on  -trial 
that  a  bank  was  not  needed,  it  would  simply  wind 
up  its  affairs  and  go  out  of  existence,  as  a  mer- 
chant might  close  out  his  business  and  engage  in 
something  else ;  and  the  experiment,  if  the  public 
was  suflicientl}'  protected  by  the  law  of  organiza- 
tion, would  harm  no  one.  Let  the  law  be  care- 
fully framed,  it  was  said,  and  under  proper  super- 
vision everything  might  be  left  to  the  ordinary 
operations  of  trade  and  business.  With  senti- 
menls  like  these  prevailing,  a  general  law  was 
passed  March  15,  1837,  under  which  any  ten  or 
more  freeholders  of  any  county  might  organize 
themselves  into  a  corporation  for  the  transaction 
of  banking  business,  with  a  capital  of  not  less 
than  fifty  nor  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  on  furnishing  the  required  securities. 

The  provisions  made  by  the  law  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  public  were :  that  no  bank  should  com- 
mence operations  until  thirty  per  cent,  of  the 
stock  should  be  actually  paid  in,  in  specie  ;  that 


FINANCIAL   DISASTER.  263 

securities  in  bonds  and  mortgages  on  real  estate, 
or  in  bonds  executed  by  resident  freeholders  and 
approved  by  the  county  treasurer  and  clerk,  should 
be  given  for  the  payment  of  all  debts  and  the  re- 
demption of  all  bills  ;  that  the  banks  should  be 
subject  to  the  safety  fund  act,  and  that  a  failure 
to  pay  the  bills  and  notes  on  demand,  or  within 
thirty  days  thereafter,  in  lawful  currency,  should 
operate  as  a  dissolution.  And  when,  added  to 
these,  the  banks  were  made  subject  to  the  con- 
stant supervision  of  the  bank  commissioner,  it 
seemed  to  the  public  of  that  day  that  a  banking 
system  of  exceptional  security  had  been  estab- 
lished. 

The  legislature  which  passed  this  act  adjourned 
March  22,  1837,  to  November  9th  following,  but 
long  before  that  day  events  had  happened  which 
rendered  a  special  session  imperative.  The  wild 
speculations  of  the  country  had  been  rapidly  ap- 
proaching a  climax.  Money,  during  the  preceding 
winter,  had  commanded  exorbitant  rates  of  inter- 
est, ranging  from  two  to  four  per  cent,  a  month  to 
persons  in  good  financial  standing  and  in  regular 
business,  and  it  was  impossible  that  this  state  of 
things  should  long  continue.  In  the  spring  busi- 
ness houses  in  the  leading  cities  of  the  country  be- 
gan to  fail.  So  many  suspended  that  a  panic  was 
started,  and  at  the  beginning  of  May  there  was  a 
run  upon  the  banks  of  New  York.  A  great  meet- 
ing in  that  city  besought  the  president  to  rescind 


264  MICHIGAN. 

the  specie  circular,  as  a  necessary  relief  to  the 
business  pressure,  and  the  "  Washington  Globe  " 
responded  that  "  there  is  no  pressure  which  an 
honest  man  should  regret."  But  the  pressure  was 
greater  than  the  banks  could  sustain,  and  in  a  few 
days  the  banks  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Bos- 
ton, and  Baltimore  suspended  specie  payments 
and  the  suspension  became  general  throughout  the 
country.  The  banks  paid  out  each  other's  bills, 
and  the  people,  unable  to  get  other  currency ^jvere 
compelled  to  take  and  use  them,  but  every  one  of 
the  banks  was,  in  a  legal  sense,  in  a  condition  of 
practical  insolvency.  Legislatures  were  called  to- 
gether to  devise  a  remedy  for  the  consequent  evils, 
and,  under  a  belief  that  the  banks  had  assets  suffi- 
cient to  meet  all  demands  upon  them  when  the 
present  stringency  should  be  over,  the  temporary 
suspension  of  specie  payments  was  legalized. 

The  Michigan  legislature  was  convened  in 
special  session  June  12th.  Up  to  this  time  no 
banks  had  been  actually  organized  under  the  gen- 
eral banking  law,  though  preliminary  steps  had 
been  taken  in  several  cases.  Governor  Mason  in 
his  message,  after  depicting  in  vivid  language  the 
financial  and  commercial  embarrassments  of  the 
country,  proceeded  to  point  out  as  their  causes  over- 
banking,  over-trading,  and  extravagance  among 
the  people.  He  spoke  particularly  and  strongly 
of  excessive  bank  issues,  which  he  declared  to  be 
a  violation  of  the  simplest  principles  of  political 


POSITION  OF  THE  GOVERNOR.  265 

economy.  The  evil  effects  were  depicted  in  detail 
and  in  strong  colors,  and  his  views  were  empha- 
sized by  a  review  of  the  present  condition  of  the 
country  and  with  some  prophecy  of  the  immediate 
future. 

How  far  the  governor,  in  what  he  was  saying, 
was  expressing  settled  convictions  in  his  own 
mind,  and  how  far  he  was  merely  repeating  the 
current  talk  in  the  political  circles  to  which  he  in- 
clined, it  would  be  difficult  now  to  determine.  If 
he  believed  all  he  said  of  the  evils  of  excessive 
bank  issues,  and  if  he  saw  a  financial  crisis  ap- 
proaching, as  his  message  would  indicate  that  he 
did,  it  would  naturally  be  expected  of  him  that 
he  would  recommend  such  legislation  as  would  re- 
move the  causes  which  were  still  active  in  the 
multiplication  of  the  evils  he  pointed  out :  espe- 
cially might  it  be  expected  of  him  that  he  would 
recommend  the  repeal  of  the  general  banking 
law,  so  far,  at  least,  as  it  authorized  corporations 
for  which  proceedings  had  not  already  been  origi- 
nated. But  the  truth  probably  is,  that  he  com- 
prehended very  imperfectly  the  actual  crisis.  In 
this  regard  he  was  no  more  lacking  in  foresight 
than  the  community  in  general.  Everything  about 
him  was  still  excited  and  speculative  ;  values  were 
nominally  maintained ;  dealings  in  wild  lands  and 
town  property  at  fancy  prices  were  still  active 
though  mostly  on  credit,  and  the  notion  floated 
vaguely  in  people's  minds  that  there  was  wealth 


266  MICHIGAN. 

in  land  as  such,  independent  of  labor  and  improve- 
ment. But  as  the  State  was  still  rapidly  settling, 
any  one  could  see  that  land  must  continue  to  be 
bought  and  sold,  and  as  private  and  public  im- 
provements spread  over  the  State,  the  hope  that 
the  market  value  would  continue  to  go  up  did  not 
seem  wholly  chimerical.  The  same  legislature 
which  bad  passed  the  general  banking  law  had 
authorized  the  governor  to  borrow  five  millions  of 
dollars  for  railroads,  canals,  and  other  improve- 
ments, and  it  was  plausibly  argued  that  when 
these  improved  highways  had  been  made  to  pen- 
etrate every  part  of  the  State,  as  was  proposed, 
farming  lands  would  approximate  in  value  to  those 
in  western  New  York,  and  prosperous  villages 
would  rise  up  all  along  the  lines  of  internal  com- 
munication. The  governor,  therefore,  so  far  from 
recommending  the  repeal  of  the  general  banking 
law,  expressed  his  strong  opinion  that  the  banks 
of  the  State  were  generally  in  a  sound  condition, 
and  that  what  was  to  be  feared  was,  that  as  a 
consequence  of  specie  suspension,  elsewhere,  runs 
would  be  made  upon  Michigan  banks  which,  not- 
withstanding they  had  ample  assets,  would  force 
them  to  suspend  operations.  He,  therefore,  rec- 
ommended the  passage  of  a  law  legalizing  the  tem- 
porary suspension  of  specie  payments,  and  the 
legislature,  adopting  his  suggestion,  authorized 
the  suspension  until  May  16,  1838 ;  the  banks  in 
the  mean  time  being  prohibited  from  paying  divi- 


OPERATION  OF  LEGISLATIVE  ACTS.  267 

dencU  while  in  a  state  of  suspension,  and  also  from 
selling  gold  or  silver  at  a  premium  and  from  buy- 
ing their  own  notes  at  a  discount.  An  amend- 
ment to  the  bill,  taking  from  the  banks  the  privi- 
lege of  collecting  their  own  demands  in  specie 
while  not  paying  specie  themselves,  was  defeated. 
This  was  the  most  important  outcome  of  the 
special  session,  and  it  was  certainly  very  extraor- 
dinary legislation.  It  left  the  general  banking 
law  in  force,  with  full  authority  to  organize  banks 
under  it,  and  to  begin  the  business  of  issuing  bills 
in  a  state  of  suspension ;  to  flood  the  State  with  an 
irredeemable  currency,  subject  only  to  the  condi- 
tion that  the  associates  should  give  security  for 
the  ultimate  redemption  of  their  bills  and  the  pay- 
ment of  their  other  debts,  and  that  they  should 
pay  in  thirty  per  cent,  of  their  capital  stock  in  spe- 
cie before  commencing  business.  Wild  lands  that 
had  been  recently  bought  of  the  government  at 
one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  an  acre  were  now 
valued  at  ten  or  twenty  times  that  amount,  and 
lots  in  villages  that  still  existed  only  on  paper 
had  a  worth  for  banking  purposes  only  limited  by 
the  conscience  of  the  officer  who  was  to  take  the 
securities.  Any  ten  freeholders  of  a  county  must 
be  poor  indeed  if  they  could  not  give  sufficient 
security  to  answer  the  purpose  of  the  general 
banking  law.  The  requirement  of  the  payment 
of  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  capital  stock  in  specie 
was  more  difficult  to  be  complied  witk  But  as 


268  MICHIGAN. 

the  payment  was  to  be  made  to  the  bank  itself, 
the  difficulty  was  gotten  over  in  various  ingenious 
ways,  which  the  author  of  the  general  banking 
law  could  scarcely  have  anticipated.  In  some  cases, 
stock  notes  in  terms  payable  in  specie,  or  the  cer- 
tificates of  individuals  which  stated  —  untruly  — 
that  the  maker  held  a  specified  sum  of  specie  for 
the  bank,  were  counted  as  specie  itself ;  in  others, 
a  small  sum  of  specie  was  paid  in  and  taken  out, 
and  the  process  repeated  over  and  over  until^the 
aggregate  of  payments  equaled  the  sum  required ; 
in  still  others,  the  specie  with  which  one  bank  was 
organized  was  passed  from  town  to  town  and  made 
to  answer  the  purposes  of  several.  By  the  first 
day  of  January,  1838,  articles  of  association  for 
twenty-one  banks  had  been  filed,  making,  with  the 
banks  before  in  existence,  an  average  of  one  to 
less  than  five  thousand  people.  Some  of  them 
were  absolutely  without  capital,  and  some  were 
organized  by  scheming  men  in  New  York  and  else- 
where, who  took  the  bills  away  with  them  to  cir- 
culate abroad,  putting  out  none  at  home.  For 
some,  locations  as  inaccessible  as  possible  were 
selected,  that  the  bills  might  not  come  back  to 
plague  the  managers.  The  bank  commissioners 
say  in  their  report  for  1838,  of  their  journey  for 
inspection  :  "  The  singular  spectacle  was  presented 
of  the  officers  of  the  State  seeking  for  banks  in 
situations  the  most  inaccessible  and  remote  from 
trade,  and  finding  at  every  step  an  increase  of  la- 


THE  GOVERNOR'S  POLICY.  269 

bor  by  the  discovery  of  new  and  unknown  organi- 
zations. Before  they  could  be  arrested  the  mis- 
chief was  done :  large  issues  were  in  circulation 
and  no  adequate  remedy  for  the  evil."  One  bank 
was  found  housed  in  a  saw-mill,  and  it  was  said 
with  pardonable  exaggeration  in  one  of  the  public 
papers,  "  Every  village  plat  with  a  house,  or  even 
•without  a  house,  if  it  had  a  hollow  stump  to  serve 
as  a  vault,  was  the  site  of  a  bank."  The  suspen- 
sion act,  which  under  these  circumstances  gave 
free  license  to  scheming  parties  for  frauds  which 
the  general  banking  law  sufficiently  invited,  was 
very  justly  characterized  as  "  a  high  crime  against 
society." 

The  governor,  when  he  delivered  his  annual 
message  in  January,  1838,  still  had  confidence  in 
the  general  banking  law,  which  he  said  "  offered 
to  all  persons  the  privilege  of  banking  under  cer- 
tain guards  and  restrictions,"  and  he  declared  that 
"  the  principles  upon  which  this  law  is  based  are 
certainly  correct,  destroying  as  they  do  the  odious 
feature  of  a  banking  monopoly,  and  giving  equal 
rights  to  all  classes  of  the  community."  But  he 
thought  there  had  been  abuses  of  the  system  for 
which  the  legislature  should  provide  remedy,  and 
he  reiterated  his  opinion  of  the  evils  of  excessive 
paper  issues.  He  recommended  a  law  for  the  with- 
drawal of  small  bills,  that  gold  and  silver  might 
take  their  place  as  currency,  and  he  expressed 
the  opinion  that  it  would  be  wise  to  create  a 


270  MICHIGAN. 

state  bank  with  a  capital  limited  to  the  amount  of 
the  state  loan  he  had  been  authorized  to  make. 
A  most  extravagant  recommendation,  which  if 
adopted  might  have  involved  the  State  itself  in 
the  bankruptcy  which  was  then  impending  over 
so  many  of  the  people. 

The  aggregate  amount  of  private  indebtedness 
had  by  this  time  become  enormous,  and  the  pres- 
sure for  payment  was  serious  and  disquieting. 
Property  on  the  market  was  as  abundant  as  eYer, 
but  sellers  were  numerous  and  eager,  while  buyers 
were  few,  and  conversion  into  money  was  almost 
impossible.  Wheat,  which  was  worth  two  dollars 
and  a  half  a  bushel  in  1836,  had  now  gone  down 
to  a  dollar,  and  other  agricultural  products  in  like 
proportion,  and  the  depression  affected  all  other 
prices.  The  people  must  have  relief ;  and  what 
relief  could  be  so  certain  or  so  speedy  as  more 
banks  and  more  money?  More  banks  therefore 
continued  to  be  organized,  and  the  paper  current 
flowed  out  among  the  people  in  increasing  vol- 
ume. The  legislature,  in  December,  had  under- 
taken to  improve  the  banking  system  somewhat, 
and  had  provided  for  the  appointment  of  three 
bank  commissioners  who  should  inspect  every 
bank  at  least  once  in  three  months,  and  had  also 
prohibited  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  by 
any  bank  which  might  be  organized  after  the  first 
of  January  following.  But  the  prohibition  was 
of  no  moment.  Twenty-eight  banks  were  organ- 


EVASION  OF  THE  LAW.  271 

ized  after  that  date,  and  succeeded  in  getting  their 
issues  afloat,  which  was  all  that  in  many  cases  the 
promoters  expected  or  cared  for.  The  banks  cre- 
ated under  the  general  banking  law  were  appro- 
priately christened  by  the  public  "  wild  cats,"  and 
it  was  easy  for  any  one  to  obtain  their  bills  who 
could  give  reasonable  assurance  that  he  would  cir- 
culate them  at  a  distance  and  keep  them  afloat. 

The  bank  commissioners  when  they  entered 
upon  the  duty  of  inspection  encountered,  as  was 
to  be  expected,  a  combination,  organized  and  vig- 
ilant, to  deceive  and  mislead  them.  The  specie 
found  by  them  at  one  bank  was  sent  by  hurried 
journey  ahead  of  them  to  be  counted  at  the  next ; 
"  gold  and  silver  flew  about  the  country  with  the 
celerity  of  magic ;  its  sound  was  heard  in  the 
depths  of  the  forest,  yet  like  the  wind  one  knew 
not  whence  it  came  or  whither  it  was  going."  It 
was  found  in  some  cases  that  large  packages  of 
bills  sent  to  a  distance  for  circulation  were  not 
entered  on  the  books  or  reported  ;  that  the  books 
were  intentionally  prepared  for  deception  ;  that 
kegs  of  specie  kept  for  show  and  credit  were  kegs 
of  nails  with  a  little  silver  on  the  top  ;  and  that 
every  conceivable  device  had  been  resorted  to,  in 
order  to  make  that  appear  sound  and  worthy  of 
trust  which  was  rottenness  and  fraud  in  its  very 
birth.  But  distrust  had  come  to  be  universal. 
Whoever  took  the  bills  of  the  banks  did  so  in- 
tending to  pass  them  off  at  the  earliest  possible 


272  MICHIGAN. 

moment.  They  were  at  a  great  discount  as  com- 
pared with  Eastern  bills  ;  the  issues  of  one  bank 
were  at  a  discount  as  compared  with  those  of  an- 
other ;  merchants  kept  couriers  by  whom  they 
hurried  off  to  the  banks  of  issue  the  bills  they 
were  compelled  to  take,  that  they  might  if  possi- 
ble exchange  them  for  something  in  which  they 
had  more  confidence.  No  "  circulating  medium  " 
ever  before  circulated  so  rapidly.  Ihe  commis- 
sioners were  vigilant  in  taking  steps  to  wind  up 
the  concerns  of  banks  which  had  been  demon- 
strated to  have  no  soundness,  but  new  banks  still 
continued  to  be  formed.  When  a  bank  failed  it 
was  of  course  that  laboring  men  and  farmers  should 
be  the  principal  losers ;  for  they  had  neither  the 
means  of  keeping  well  informed  concerning  the 
condition  of  the  banks,  nor  the  facilities  for  put- 
ting off  doubtful  bills  which  were  possessed  by  the 
merchants.  At  the  beginning  of  1839  the  bank 
commissioners  estimated  that  there  were  a  million 
dollars  of  bills  of  insolvent  banks  in  the  hands  of 
individuals  and  unavailable.  Yet  the  governor,  in 
his  annual  message  delivered  in  January,  found  it 
a  "  source  of  unfeigned  gratification  to  be  able  to 
congratulate  [the  legislature]  on  the  prosperous 
condition  to  which  our  rising  commonwealth  has 
attained,"  though  he  thought  there  should  be  a 
correction  of  abuses  in  the  banking  system,  but 
of  what  nature  were  the  abuses,  and  how  to  be 
remedied  he  failed  to  be  specific  in  pointing  out. 


DEPRECIATION  OF  CURRENCY.       273 

He  was  careful  to  say,  however,  that  there  ought 
to  be  no  war  upon  the  banks,  for  "  the  banks  have 
their  rights  and  should  be  protected  in  them,"  but 
he  added  at  the  same  time,  as  if  to  warn  them 
against  any  possible  inclination  to  misbehavior, 
that  "  they  are  not  above  all  law,  both  human  and 
divine." 

How  far  the  actual  fact  corresponded  to  this 
last  remark,  there  might  possibly  be  differences 
of  opinion.  It  was  very  certain  that  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  affairs  of  many  of  the  banks  no 
moral  obligations  whatever  had  been  recognized  ; 
and  it  was  equally  certain  that  from  first  to  last 
their  operations  had  contemplated  the  circum- 
vention and  defeat  of  all  such  laws  of  the  state  as 
had  protection  of  the  public  in  view.  And  the 
general  fact  was  that  the  mischief  was  done  be- 
fore any  legal  remedy  could  be  applied.  The 
hopeful  governor  reiterated  his  opinion  in  favor 
of  a  great  state  bank,  but  he  had  acquired  no  con- 
verts to  his  plan,  and  it  received  little  attention. 
The  insolvent  banks  were  rapidly  passing  out  of 
existence ;  by  the  end  of  1839  forty-two  of  them 
were  in  the  hands  of  receivers,  and  only  two  of 
the  chartered  banks  arid  four  of  those  which  were 
organized  under  the  general  banking  law  were 
still  keeping  open  doors  for  business.  A  very 
large  share  of  all  the  currency  of  the  State  had 
become  absolutely  worthless  in  the  pockets  of  the 
people,  and  was  as  much  lost  to  the  owners  as 

18 


274  MICHIGAN. 

though  it  had  been  committed  to  the  flames.  Mar- 
ket values  of  merchantable  property  had  depreci- 
ated in  proportion  to  the  reduction  of  currency ; 
there  was  no  sale  for  lands  and  little  for  anything 
else  except  the  bare  necessaries  of  life  ;  distrust  in 
business  circles  was  universal,  and  business  was 
utterly  prostrate.  Distress  had  taken  the  place  of 
the  unnatural  excitement,  extravagance,  and  ela- 
tion of  fictitious  wealth.  It  was  a  natural  se- 
quence to  this  condition  of  things  that  a  revo- 
lution should  take  place  in  the  political  control 
of  the  State,  and  that  the  Jackson  party,  which 
had  held  undisputed  sway  to  this  time,  should 
be  deprived  of  power.  The  Whigs  in  the  fall 
of  1839  chose  a  majority  of  the  legislature,  and 
elected  William  Woodbridge  governor.  The  revo- 
lution was  the  result  of  general  causes,  operating 
throughout  the  country,  though  every  state  had 
an  experience  of  its  own,  with  peculiar  features. 

But  no  political  change  could  stop  the  vicious 
consequences  of  the  wild-cat  banking,  which  were 
attributable  to  no  one  party,  and  which  were  con- 
tinued by  suspension  laws  through  several  years. 
All  the  important  legislation  of  the  State  for  some 
time,  and  especially  all  that  concerned  public  im- 
provements and  the  collection  of  debts,  was  shaped 
in  view  of  the  depression  which  followed  the  finan- 
cial dissipation.  But  the  measures  of  relief  only 
aggravated  and  prolonged  the  evils  of  a  worthless 
currency  :  "  a  compound,"  as  a  writer  of  the  day 


OUTCOME   OF  FREE  BANKING.  275 

justly  said,  "  of  folly  and  wickedness."  "  Of  course 
the  people  were  swindled  out  of  a  million  or  two 
of  property,  —  and  this  was  a  lesser  evil  than  the 
frightful  inroads  made  upon  their  moral  princi- 
ples, for  a  doubtful  currency  contaminates  all 
hands  that  touch  it."  Then  came  stay  laws,  and 
laws  to  compel  creditors  to  take  lands  at  a  valua- 
tion. They  were  doubtful  in  point  of  utility,  and 
more  than  doubtful  in  point  of  morality  and  con- 
stitutionality. The  federal  bankrupt  act  of  1841 
first  brought  substantial  relief:  it  brought  almost 
no  dividends  to  creditors,  but  it  relieved  debtors 
from  their  crushing  burdens  and  permitted  them, 
sobered  and  in  their  right  minds,  to  enter  once 
more  the  fields  of  industry  and  activity. 

The  extraordinary  history  of  the  attempt  to 
break  up  an  "  odious  monopoly  "  in  banking  by 
making  everybody  a  banker,  and  to  create  pros- 
perity by  unlimited  issues  of  paper  currency,  was 
brought  at  length  to  a  fit  conclusion.  There  had 
always  been  in  the  minds  of  sound  lawyers  serious 
doubts  of  the  constitutionality  of  the  general  bank- 
Ing  law ;  and  in  1844  the  matter  was  brought  to 
judicial  test.  The  constitution  declared  that  "  the 
legislature  shall  pass  no  act  of  incorporation  unless 
with  the  assent  of  at  least  two  thirds  of  each 
house;"  and  this  provision  it  was  believed  con- 
templated that  each  proposed  corporation  should 
be  considered  and  determined  upon  separately. 
It  was  not  in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  a  great 


276  MICHIGAN. 

number  of  corporations  should  be  created  or  pro- 
vided for  by  a  single  act,  by  a  legislature  which, 
if  considering  the  necessity  or  expediency  of  any 
single  one  of  them,  might  disapprove  of  it  alto- 
gether. The  provision  was  restrictive,  having  its 
origin  in  a  distrust  of  corporations  which  was 
prevalent  among  the  people,  and  was  meant  to 
impose  an  important  and  effective  restraint  upon 
their  easy  and  free  multiplication.  This  was  the 
view  taken  by  the  court,  and  the  law  was  "held 
void  in  its  inception.  The  banks  were  conse- 
quently illegal  institutions;  the  securities  given 
for  the  payment  of  their  debts  were  void ;  the 
obligations  they  had  taken  from  individuals  were 
nullities.  Even  the  receiverships  which  had  been 
created  for  winding  up  their  concerns  were  of  no 
legal  importance  further ;  for  the  banks  having 
never  had  existence  could  have  no  creditors  to  ac- 
count to,  and  such  receivers  as  were  in  possession 
of  assets  which  they  could  make  available,  pock- 
eted them.  But  in  many  cases  there  were  no 
assets  to  pocket.  Such  were  the  fruits  of  the  ex- 
periment of  giving  equal  and  practically  unlim- 
ited rights  in  banking  to  everybody  who  wanted  a 
shorter  road  to  wealth  than  that  trodden  by  labor 
and  honest  industry. 

The  new  State,  under  the  bold  but  inexperienced 
guidance  of  its  youthful  governor,  disdaining  the 
lessons  of  history,  had  determined  to  try  for  itself 
the  experiment  of  manufacturing  riches  by  the 


SUBSIDENCE   OF  THE  BANKING  MANIA.      277 

printing  -  press.  The  condition  after  the  experi- 
ment might  be  compared  to  a  forest  after  a  cy- 
clone :  everything  was  prostrate,  and  everything 
was  in  confusion.  The  State  was  now  paying  the 
cost  of  its  lesson  in  the  destruction  of  credit,  the 
loss  of  all  the  fictitious  and  much  of  the  actual 
wealth  of  the  people,  the  bankruptcy  of  great 
numbers,  and  several  years  of  stagnation  of  busi- 
ness. General  and  forced  economy  was  a  neces- 
sity of  the  situation ;  but  this  was  a  blessing. 
After  1841,  the  few  chartered  banks  which  sur- 
vived were  able  to  maintain  their  position  as  spe- 
cie paying,  and  by  their  legitimate  assistance  the 
people  patiently  and  with  steady  industry  ad- 
dressed themselves  to  the  development  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  State  and  to  the  improvement  of 
their  own  condition.  Thousands  never  recovered 
from  the  bankruptcy  and  discouragement  which 
followed  the  financial  collapse  ;  but  the  State  at 
large  was  soon  rapidly  accumulating  substantial 
wealth,  and  acquiring  an  independent  and  self- 
respecting  population. 

Thereafter  wild-cat  banking  was  a  by-word  in 
the  State  ;  but  the  lessons  it  taught  needed  to  be 
learned  at  some  time,  and  were  not  likely  to  be 
learned  except  with  experience  as  teacher.  One 
of  its  lessons  was  that  neither  real  estate  nor  any- 
thing else  not  immediately  convertible  into  money 
can  support  the  credit  of  bank  currency.  But  for 
the  experience  of  the  several  States  in  banking, 


278  MICHIGAN. 

in  the  years  1837-39,  who  shall  say  that  the  na- 
tional currency  act,  when  it  came  to  be  passed, 
might  not  have  been  as  little  guarded  against 
dangerous  schemes  as  some  of  its  state  predeces- 
sors? 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   STATE  ENTERS    UPON  INTERNAL   IMPROVE- 
MENTS. 

THE  years  1835,  '36,  and  '37  were  years  for  the 
building  of  air  castles  everywhere,  but  especially 
in  the  new  West.  Nowhere  were  the  imagina- 
tions of  the  people  more  active,  or  more  excited 
with  visions  of  great  prosperity  than  in  Michigan, 
and  nowhere  was  there  greater  excuse  for  it. 
Every  steamboat  on  Lake  Erie  was  loaded  with 
people  on  their  way  to  the  Peninsular  State,  and 
the  road  through  the  Black  Swamp  from  Cleve- 
land to  the  Maumee  exhibited  a  continuous  mov- 
ing caravan  of  emigrant  wagons  slowly  and  labo- 
riously dragged  along.  The  Erie  and  Kalamazoo 
railroad,  with  its  little  cars  of  stage-coach  fashion, 
was  doing  what  it  could  to  help  the  procession 
move  on  into  Michigan :  it  carried  "  baggage  at 
the  risk  of  the  owners,"  but  its  speed  was  not 
such  as  to  put  life  at  much  risk,  except  perhaps 
when  a  broken  strap  rail  ran  a*"  snake  head  "  up 
through  the  car  floor.  In  the  interior  might  be 
heard  on  every  side  the  sound  of  the  woodman's 
axe  and  the  crash  of  falling  trees ;  new  houses, 


280  MICHIGAN. 

very  primitive  but  each  sheltering  a  family,  were 
being  put  up  everywhere  ;  and  crops  were  being 
gathered  where  only  the  year  before  all  was  wil- 
derness and  solitude.  A  magical  transformation 
was  going  on  before  the  eyes  of  the  people,  which 
had  been  rendered  possible  through  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Erie  Canal,  whereby  De  Witt  Clinton, 
Myron  Holley,  and  their  associates  had  added  so 
vastly  to  the  wealth  and  importance  of  the  Empire 
State,  and  won  for  themselves  immortal  renown. 
It  was  a  striking  evidence  of  what  improved  means 
for  the  transportation  of  persons  and  property 
might  do  for  a  state  ;  and  the  proof  that  the  peo- 
ple were  awake  to  its  importance  is  seen  in  the 
fact  that  in  forming  their  constitution,  prepara- 
tory to  admission  to  the  Union,  they  took  pains  to 
impose  upon  the  legislature  the  duty  of  following 
the  example  of  New  York.  The  provision  to  this 
end  was  the  following:  "Internal  improvements 
shall  be  encouraged  by  the  government  of  this 
state ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  legislature 
as  soon  as  may  be,  to  make  provision  by  law  for 
ascertaining  the  proper  objects  of  improvements, 
in  relation  to  roads,  canals,  and  navigable  waters ; 
and  it  shall  also  be  their  duty  to  provide  by  law 
for  an  equal,  systematic,  and  economical  applica- 
tion of  the  funds  which  may  be  appropriated  to 
these  objects."  As  this  section  neither  gave  power 
to  the  legislature  nor  undertook  to  set  bounds  to 
power  otherwise  possessed,  it  was  obviously  out  of 


THE   TEMPTATION   TO  BUILD  RAILROADS.     281 

place  in  the  constitution,  where  only  the  outlines 
and  fundamental  principles  of  government  are 
looked  for ;  but  it  was  indicative  of  prevailing 
thoughts  and  aspirations,  and  had  no  little  influ- 
ence upon  subsequent  state  action.  It  may  there- 
fore be  regarded  as  a  significant  landmark  in  the 
history  of  the  State. 

The  laudable  ambition  of  the  first  governor  to 
distinguish  his  own  administration  and  to  advance 
the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  State  would 
naturally  lead  him  to  act  promptly  upon  this  man- 
datory provision.  The  surface  of  Michigan  was 
such  as  to  admit  of  easy  and  economical  construc- 
tion of  both  railroads  and  canals,  and  it  might  well 
be  deemed  a  reproach  to  the  State  should  it  be 
behind  the  rest  of  the  Union,  in  these  great  and 
now  indispensable  conveniences.  Accordingly  the 
governor  in  his  annual  message  reminded  the 
legislature  that  "  the  period  has  arrived  when 
Michigan  can  no  longer,  without  detriment  to  her 
standing  and  importance  as  a  state,  delay  the  ac- 
tion necessary  for  the  development  of  her  vast  re- 
sources of  wealth.  Nature  has  bestowed  upon  us 
the  highest  advantage*}  of  climate,  a  fertile  soil 
and  peculiar  facilities  icr  commerce ;  and  with  a 
prudent  and  wise  fovocfv,st  to  be  exercised  by  the 
legislature  and  the  people,  we  cannot  fail  soon  to 
reach  that  high  destiny  which  awaits  us."  It  is 
impossible  to  mistake  the  spirit  of  this  message : 
the  emphatic  words  are  words  of  action  :  we  can- 


282  MICHIGAN. 

not  longer  delay  :  we  must  soon — not  by  steady 
and  measured  steps,  but  immediately  —  "  reach 
that  high  destiny  which  awaits  us,"  if  we  have 
the  "  prudent  and  wise  forecast "  which  perceives 
the  opportunity  for  greatness,  and  embraces  it 
without  hesitation  or  faint-heartedness. 

Accordingly  the  governor  recommended  surveys 
to  determine  how  and  by  what  routes  the  waters 
of  Lake  Michigan  might  be  connected  by  canals 
with  the  waters  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  St«te ; 
and  he  suggests  a  series  of  state  railroads,  and  the 
purchase  by  the  State  of  certain  roads  which  had 
already  been  begun  by  corporations.  The  legisla- 
ture responded  promptly  to  this  action.  An  act 
was  passed  for  the  location  and  construction  of 
three  lines  of  railroad  across  the  State :  one  from 
Detroit  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  River  ;  one 
from  Monroe  to  New  Buffalo,  and  one  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Black  River  to  the  navigable  waters 
of  Grand  River  or  to  Lake  Michigan.  The  sum 
of  five  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  was 
appropriated  to  begin  the  construction,  and  further 
sums  were  voted  for  the  survey  of  a  canal  route 
from  Mount  Clemens  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kala- 
mazoo  River,  and  of  a  canal  around  the  falls  of  the 
St.  Mary,  and  for  various  minor  projects  which 
may  now  be  suffered  to  rest  in  the  oblivion  to 
which  the  State  long  since  very  properly  consigned 
them.  To  provide  funds  for  these  purposes,  the 
governor  was  authorized  to  borrow  on  the  credit 


THE  STATE  PLUNGES  INTO  DEBT.  283 

of  the  State  the  sum  of  five  million  dollars,  at  an 
interest  which  should  not  exceed  five  and  a  half 
per  cent.,  and  to  issue  state  bonds  therefor.  The 
sum  borrowed  was  to  constitute  an  internal  im- 
provement fund,  and  it  was  declared  that  the  pro- 
ceeds of  all  railroads  and  canals  constructed  by 
the  State,  the  interest  on  all  loans  which  might 
thereafter  be  made  by  the  State  from  the  in- 
ternal improvement  fund,  and  the  dividends  aris- 
ing from  all  bank  stock  owned  or  which  might 
thereafter  be  owned  by  the  State,  so  far  as  neces- 
sary, should  constitute  a  sinking  fund  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  principal  and  interest  of  this  loan. 
The  bonds  were  not  to  be  sold  at  less  than  par. 
The  sum  to  be  borrowed  was  subsequently  in- 
creased by  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  that  the 
State  might  advance  to  each  of  two  railroad  com- 
panies then  engaged  in  building  roads  the  sum  of 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Five  million  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  was 
a  large  debt  for  a  state  whose  people,  less  than 
two  hundred  thousand  in  number,  were  still  strug- 
gling under  the  hardships  and  privations  of  pio- 
neer life  ;  and  a  little  more  experience  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  public  moneys  are  expended  in  state 
works  would  have  satisfied  any  considerate  person 
that  this  amount  would  be  only  the  beginning  of 
what  would  be  required  to  complete  the  magnifi- 
cent system  of  public  works  which  the  legislature 
had  planned.  This,  however,  was  not  generally 


284  MICHIGAN. 

understood  at  the  time  :  the  calculations  of  cost 
were  low ;  it  was  only  the  calculation  of  returns 
that  was  magnificently  large.  The  committee  of 
the  legislature  that  reported  the  scheme  had  no 
difficulty  in  demonstrating,  by  facts  and  figures, 
that  the  income  from  the  railroad  from  Detroit 
across  the  State  must  be  thirty  per  cent,  annu- 
ally upon  the  cost ;  a  most  splendid  and  satisfac- 
tory result,  as  all  must  admit,  to  flow  from  acting 
promptly  with  proper  confidence  in  the  future  of 
the  State.  The  cost  of  the  road,  it  is  true,  with 
all  its  station  houses  and  other  buildings,  was  esti- 
mated at  only  a  million  and  a  half ;  but  this  was 
for  a  single  track  only,  and  the  surplus  earnings, 
after  providing  for  the  interest  of  the  cost  and 
paying  off  the  principal,  were  expected  to  be  am- 
ple for  the  building  of  an  additional  track  as  fast 
as  needed.  Such  were  the  crude  and  ignorant 
calculations  upon  which,  in  the  early  days  of  rail- 
roads, states  were  induced  to  plunge  into  debt  and 
to  peril  their  credit  and  good  name,  sometimes  al- 
most beyond  hope  of  protection  or  rescue. 

In  his  annual  message  for  1838,  the  governor 
was  able  to  say  that  under  the  act  authorizing  the 
five  million  loan  he  had  made  such  arrangements 
as  would  enable  the  State  readily  to  command 
any  portion  of  the  amount,  and  that  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  of  the  bonds  had  already  been 
sold  in  the  American  market  at  the  very  hand- 
some premium  of  six  per  cent.,  and  the  remainder 


PRUDENCE   CREEPING  BACK.  285 

had  been  put  upon  the  European  market.  He 
also  reported  that  the  improvements  which  had 
been  entered  upon  were  progressing  to  his  satis- 
faction. But  there  were  indications  that  the  gov- 
ernor was  becoming  circumspect,  and  perhaps  be- 
ginning to  fear  that  the  State  had  entered  upon 
undertakings  which  were  likely  to  test  its  powers 
unduly.  He  questioned  whether  the  sum  the  State 
had  undertaken  to  borrow  would  be  sufficient, 
even  with  the  most  rigid  economy,  to  provide  for 
the  construction  of  the  works  undertaken,  and  he 
submitted  the  propriety  of  leaving  the  minor 
works  to  individual  enterprise ;  the  State  con- 
structing the  great  and  leading  communications 
only.  The  minor  enterprises,  however,  as  well  as 
the  greater,  were  already  entered  upon,  and  as 
nobody  was  proposing  their  construction  as  indi- 
vidual enterprises,  it  was  not  at  all  likely  that 
state  expenditures  upon  them  would  be  suffered 
to  stop  while  the  larger  works  were  progressing. 
When  a  great  system  of  internal  improvements  is 
entered  upon,  sections  and  localities  have  claims 
they  will  not  suffer  to  be  ignored  ;  the  questions 
involved  are  largely  questions  of  local  advantage, 
and  the  state,  in  the  distribution  of  its  favors, 
must  consider  all,  and  be  impartial  to  all. 

In  his  message  for  1839  the  governor  still  speaks 
in  hopeful  terms  of  the  progress  of  public  improve- 
ments, but  the  information  he  has  to  communicate 
respecting  the  loan  is  not  agreeable.  The  sale  of 


286  MICHIGAN. 

bonds  to  the  amount  of  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars had  fallen  through  after  two  hundred  thousand 
had  been  paid  for,  and  he  was  obliged  to  look 
elsewhere  for  a  purchaser.  He  had  found  one  in 
the  Morris  Canal  and  Banking  Company,  for  a 
part  of  the  sum  required,  and  that  company  as 
agent  for  the  State  had  closed  out  a  sale  of  the 
remaining  bonds  to  the  Pennsylvania  United  States 
Bank.  The  terms  were  not  what  the  State  had 
expected  to  make :  the  sale  was  in  fact  below  par, 
but  was  made  nominally  at  par  by  an  allowance 
under  the  name  of  commissions.  One  million 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars  had  actually  been 
received  into  the  state  treasury,  and  the  governor, 
while  not  satisfied  with  what  had  been  accom- 
plished, assured  the  legislature  it  was  the  best 
that  was  possible  in  the  existing  state  of  the 
money  market.  This  was  a  great  disappointment 
to  the  State,  and  subjected  the  governor  to  serious 
criticism.  But  worse  news  was  to  come :  it  was 
soon  to  be  a  question  not  of  the  loss  of  a  percent- 
age merely,  but  of  the  loss  of  the  major  part  of 
the  loan.  The  Morris  Canal  and  Banking  Com- 
pany failed ;  the  Pennsylvania  United  States  Bank 
failed;  the  two  had  possession  of  all  the  state 
bonds  and  had  paid  for  some  of  them ;  upon  the 
remainder  only  a  small  percentage  had  been  paid, 
but  the  bankrupt  institutions,  without  right  or 
authority,  had  hypothecated  the  bonds  for  their 
own  debts.  Only  about  one  half  the  face  value 
had  been  received  by  the  State. 


THE  STATE  BROUGHT  TO  A  HALT.  287 

This  was  a  startling  condition  of  things.  The 
State  not  only  had  urgent  need  of  the  whole 
amount  of  the  loan  for  the  works  already  begun, 
but  it  had  now  become  manifest  to  the  most  san- 
guine that  a  much  larger  sum  would  be  necessary 
for  their  completion.  Nothing,  it  was  now  seen, 
was  to  be  realized  from  earnings  which  could  be 
applied  to  construction.  If  the  loan  failed  even 
in  part,  progress  upon  the  works  must  be  stopped, 
or  at  least  greatly  delayed.  But  it  now  appeared 
that  while  the  State  was  to  receive  scarcely  half 
the  expected  loan,  the  whole  amount  of  the  bonds 
was  in  the  hands  of  parties  who  would  insist  that 
they  were  purchasers  for  value,  and  demand  full 
payment.  The  State  must  then  pay,  or  it  must 
expect  to  be  classed  in  the  money  market  of  the 
world  in  the  ranks  of  repudiation.  Repudiation 
is  the  lowest  depth  of  state  degradation ;  it  had 
already  brought  some  states  into  disgrace ;  and  a 
people  might  justly  be  sensitive  to  its  imputation, 
even  when  their  purpose  was  right  and  honorable. 

To  narrate  in  detail  all  that  took  place  after- 
wards would  make  a  long  and  dreary  story  which 
may  well  be  left  untold.  The  results  are  all  that 
are  now  important.  The  bank  crash  came  with 
its  attendant  ruin  and  bankruptcy,  and  the  State 
was  soon  in  condition  rendering  it  impossible  to 
pay  the  interest  on  even  the  full-paid  bonds. 
Work  on  the  state  railroads  was  likely  to  come  to 
a  stop,  and  it  was  only  kept  in  progress  by  means 


288  MICHIGAN. 

of  an  issue  of  state  script  payable  in  lands,  of 
which  half  a  million  acres  had  been  donated  by 
the  United  States  to  the  State  for  internal  im- 
provement purposes.  The  sacrifice  upon  this  script 
was  necessarily  very  great,  and  its  use  was  a 
wasteful  expenditure  of  state  resources.  The  ordi- 
nary expenses  of  government  could  not  be  met 
without  borrowing,  for  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  raise  by  taxation  sufficient  to  meet  all 
demands  without  causing  great  distress.  As~*the 
amount  payable  on  state  bonds  was  now  in  con- 
troversy, the  interest  was  necessarily  in  dispute, 
and  no  part  of  it  was  provided  for,  or  was  likely 
to  be  until  the  controversy  was  in  some  manner 
determined.  To  add  to  public  embarrassments,  it 
was  now  made  known  that  the  details  of  the  nego- 
tiation for  the  loan  had  not  at  first  been  fully 
communicated,  and  that  some  of  the  terms  were 
so  unusual  and  so  detrimental  to  the  interests  of 
the  State  as  justly  to  call  for  censure. 

Regarding  the  bonds  which  had  been  intrusted 
to  the  Morris  Canal  and  Banking  Company,  and 
which  were  now  in  other  hands,  the  State  took  at 
the  outset  a  position  which  was  deemed  just,  and 
maintained  it  firmly.  The  bonds  which  had  been 
bought  and  paid  for  should  be  paid  in  full,  prin- 
cipal and  interest.  There  should  be  no  repudia- 
tion ;  and  if  payment  of  interest  was  delayed, 
interest  should  be  paid  upon  the  deferred  pay- 
ment. But  as  to  bonds  not  sold  in  fact,  but  upon 


THE   CREDIT  OF  THE  STATE  MAINTAINED.     289 

which  something  had  been  paid,  the  State  would 
recognize  an  obligation  to  the  extent  of  the  pay- 
ment, but  no  farther.  It  was  not  believed  the 
holders  of  those  bonds  were  entitled  to  claim 
the  rights  of  bond  fide  holders :  they  stood  in  the 
shoes  of  the  Morris  Canal  and  Banking  Company, 
and  of  the  Pennsylvania  United  States  Bank, 
neither  of  which  could  have  equities  against  the 
State  entitling  it  to  demand  upon  the  bonds  more 
than  it  had  paid  for  them  with  interest ;  and  the 
State,  even  at  the  risk  of  misconstruction,  would 
refuse  to  go,  in  recognizing  the  bonds,  farther  than 
equity  and  the  rules  of  law  as  between  individuals 
would  require.  On  the  part-paid  bonds  being 
surrendered,  the  State- would  issue  full-paid  bonds 
for  the  sum  equitably  due  upon  them.  More 
than  this  it  was  not  believed  that  justice  could 
demand.  The  proposition  of  the  State  was  not 
immediately  accepted  by  the  bond-holders,  but  it 
was  not  long  before  the  part-paid  bonds  began  to 
come  in,  and  in  the  end  all  were  retired.  The 
episode  was  a  disagreeable  one  for  the  State,  but 
when  it  was  over  the  state  credit  was  good,  and 
the  debt  was  not  beyond  its  ability  to  pay  in  due 
season. 

The  works  of  internal  improvement  still  re- 
mained on  the  hands  of  the  State,  and  in  the  day 
of  its  poverty  and  trial  they  were  continually 
calling  upon  a  depleted  treasury  for  money  to 
keep  them  in  progress.  But  now  that  the  great 

19 


290  MICHIGAN. 

bubble  of  speculation  and  inflation  was  burst,  it 
became  plain  to  the  comprehension  of  the  dullest 
that  some  of  the  state  projects  were  wild  and 
chimerical,  and  they  were  abandoned  altogether. 
Such  was  the  case  with  the  projected  canal  from 
Mount  Clemens  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kalamazoo 
River,  which  it  was  now  seen  would  be  worthless 
if  constructed.  The  only  works  of  much  prom- 
ise were  the  central  and  southern  of  the  three 
railroads,  which  were  now  very  well  under  way. 
But  doubts  were  arising  in  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple whether  the  State  had  been  wise  in  undertak- 
ing the  construction  and  management  even  of 
these :  whether  it  was  possible  for  the  State  to  do 
either  the  one  or  the  other  With  the  same  prudence 
and  economy  as  could  private  owners.  These 
doubts  soon  matured  into  a  settled  conviction  that 
the  management  of  railroads  was  in  its  nature  es- 
sentially a  private  business,  and  ought  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  individuals.  By  common  consent  it  came 
to  be  considered  that  the  State  in  entering  upon 
these  works  had  made  a  serious  mistake ;  and  the 
legislature,  in  an  act  for  funding  the  loan  bonds, 
invited  proposals  from  state  creditors  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  state  railroads.  The  times  were  not 
then  propitious;  but  in  1846  the  Central  and 
Southern  Railroads,  so  far  as  they  were  then  con- 
structed, were  sold  by  the  State  to  corporations 
which  had  been  chartered  for  the  purpose  of  pur- 
chasing.  The  aggregate  price  was  two  million  and 


THE  STATE  BINDS  ITSELF  TO  PRUDENCE.     291 

a  half,  a  sum  very  much  below  what  had  been 
their  cost  to  the  State.  But  the  people  felt  that 
the  roads  were  well  off  their  hands,  and  as  has 
been  said  by  one  familiar  with  the  whole  history, 
"  Here  virtually  ceased  to  exist  all  our  works  of 
internal  improvement.  Nothing  but  the  debris 
of  our  airy  castles  remained,  and  that  only  to 
plague  our  recollections."  The  two  great  rail- 
roads when  taken  up  by  corporations  went  rapidly 
forward  to  completion,  and  they  soon  became  great 
national  highways  whose  utility  to  the  State  was 
quite  equal  to  the  highest  expectations  ever  formed 
concerning  them. 

Having  all  their  bitter  experience  with  internal 
improvements  fresh  in  mind,  when  they  formed  a 
new  constitution  in  1850,  the  people  resolved  to 
put  it  out  of  the  power  of  the  legislature  again  to 
involve  them  in  extravagant  projects.  And  here 
we  reach  another  landmark,  significant  in  itself, 
but  especially  notable  when  contrasted  with  the 
provision  respecting  internal  improvements  which 
has  already  been  quoted  from  the  constitution  of 
1835.  In  1850  the  people  deemed  it  necessary  to 
prohibit  what  in  1835  they  commended;  and  they 
now  provided  that  "  the  State  shall  not  subscribe 
to  or  be  interested  in  the  stock  of  any  company, 
association,  or  corporation,"  and  also  that  "  the 
State  shall  not  be  a  party  to  or  interested  in  any 
work  of  internal  improvement,  nor  engaged  in  car- 
rying on  any  such  work,  except  in  the  expenditure 


292  MICHIGAN. 

of  grants  to  the  State  of  land  or  other  property." 
These  were  very  positive  provisions ;  and  by  adopt- 
ing them  the  people  believed  they  had  rendered  it 
impossible  that  projects  of  doubtful  wisdom  and 
utility  should  be  engaged  in  at  the  public  cost. 

But  diseases  in  the  body  politic,  like  those  in 
the  human  system,  are  likely  to  take  on  new  forms 
from  time  to  time,  and  they  are  not  to  be  exor- 
cised by  words,  or  kept  off  by  constitutional  inhi- 
bitions. The  mania  for  internal  improvements 
at  the  cost  of  the  public,  when  it  returned  fifteen 
years  later  under  the  administration  of  Governor 
Crapo,  took  on  the  form  of  aid  to  railroad  corpora- 
tions by  the  several  municipal  bodies  in  the  State. 
Such  aid  was  being  given  in  other  states,  and 
railroads  as  a  consequence  were  being  constructed 
with  a  rapidity  never  paralleled.  Michigan  was 
lagging  behind  the  rest  of  the  country :  Why 
should  this  be  so?  Every  town  which  should  sub- 
scribe to  the  stock  of  a  railroad  would  immediately 
receive  a  full  return  in  the  enhanced  value  of  its 
landed  property,  and  would  have  the  stock  besides. 
This  was  what  was  commonly  said  and  commonly 
believed;  and  the  legislature,  well  reflecting  the 
common  desire,  passed  a  general  law  under  which 
townships  and  cities  were  to  be  permitted  to  vote 
aid  to  railroads.  The  railroads,  under  another 
general  law,  might  be  laid  out  anywhere  by  the 
projectors  at  pleasure ;  so  that  monopoly  in  these 
public  conveniences  seemed  to  be  effectually  pro- 


RKSTRICTWNS  ON  MUNICIPAL  EXTRAVAGANCE.  293 

vided  against.  The  governor  vetoed  the  railroad 
aid  act,  but  the  legislature  passed  it  over  his  veto. 
The  business  of  voting  aid  to  railroads  was  soon 
active ;  and  the  most  visionary  scheme  was  found 
as  likely  to  receive  aid  as  any  other :  perhaps  more 
so,  for  more  work  would  be  done  for  it.  Nothing 
is  so  easy  as  to  build  railroads  if  it  can  be  accom- 
plished by  dropping  votes  into  a  box.  Only  fos- 
sils and  croakers  will  disturb  .the  public  mind  by 
reminders  that  the  sums  voted  must  at  some  time 
be  paid,  and  that  the  roads  when  built  may  pay 
nothing  towards  them.  The  State  in  detail  by  its 
corporations  was  fast  plunging  into  indebtedness 
which  had  already  reached  an  aggregate  of  several 
million,  when  the  process  was  arrested  by  a  decis- 
ion of  the  state  Supreme  Court  that  the  act  under 
which  the  voting  had  taken  place  was  unconstitu- 
tional. The  decision  was  a  bitter  disappointment 
to  many,  and  the  public  clamor  for  a  time  was 
loud  and  earnest ;  but  a  movement  to  obtain  an 
amendment  to  the  constitution  which  would  per- 
mit such  municipal  aid  to  railroads  was  unsuccess- 
ful, and  the  excitement  soon  died  out.  The  people 
had  taken  the  "  sober  second  thought,"  and  had 
become  convinced  that  municipal  corporations  in 
their  power  to  contract  debts  or  to  expend  public 
moneys  should  be  confined  closely  to  proper  muni- 
cipal purposes.  And  this  conclusion  may  be  taken 
as  a  third  conspicuous  landmark  in  the  history  of 
internal  improvements  in  Michigan. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ECONOMY,   RECUPERATION,   AND   PROGRESS. 

THE  ascendency  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  State 
came  to  an  end  in  the  great  reaction  which~fol- 
lowed  the  death  of  President  Harrison,  and  the 
quarrel  of  his  successor  with  the  party  which  had 
elected  him.  In  1841,  John  S.  Barry,  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  governor,  was  chosen,  with  a 
legislature  of  the  same  political  faith  to  support 
him.  The  new  governor  was  a  man  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  station  in  the  present  condition  of 
state  affairs.  The  State  was  just  beginning  to  re- 
cuperate after  its  wild  and  disastrous  financial 
extravagances,  and  an  executive  was  needed  who 
would  bring  the  most  careful  and  rigid  economy 
into  the  administration  of  government.  In  Barry 
the  State  found  such  an  executive :  his  New  Eng- 
land hard  sense  had  been  strengthened,  solidified, 
and  broadened  by  pioneer  life,  and  he  was  a  fitting 
leader  to  bring  the  State  back  to  ideas  and  prac- 
tices of  economy  and  frugality,  without  at  the  same 
time  lowering  its  character  or  tainting  its  admin- 
istration with  meanness.  He  had  been  much  in 
public  life,  but  without  at  any  time  neglecting  his 


GOVERNOR  BARRY'S  EXAMPLE.  295 

business  as  a  merchant,  and  he  had  accumulated 
what  was  thought  in  those  days  a  considerable  for- 
tune, by  strict  attention  to  business  in  all  its  de- 
tails, and  by  prudent  foresight  and  frugality  in 
expenses.  His  honesty  in  public  life  was  scrupu- 
lous, and  it  was  a  matter  of  course  with  him  that 
he  should  expect,  on  coming  to  his  new  office,  to 
give  practical  effect  in  state  affairs  to  the  pruden- 
tial rules  and  principles  which  he  knew  must  be 
sound  and  wise  for  the  public,  because  they  were 
profitable  and  expedient  when  applied  to  the  busi- 
ness of  individuals.  He  was  much  lacking  in 
popular  manners,  but  he  had  been  chosen  governor 
in  the  belief  that  he  would  give  the  State  a  safe 
and  economical  administration,  which  above  all 
things  was  what  the  people  desired  and  the  State 
needed  at  this  time.  The  public  expectation 
was  fully  justified:  the  public  economy  was  rigid 
and  well  maintained  during  his  administration  ; 
and  when  men  whose  projects  he  frowned  upon 
went  off  calling  him  a  bear,  and  circulated  by  way 
of  ridicule  the  story  that  "he  mowed  the  state 
house  yard  to  sell  the  grass  and  put  the  money  in 
the  state  treasury,  the  hard-working  farmers  of 
the  State  knew  instinctively  he  was  the  proper 
executive  for  the  time,  and  proceeded  to  give  him 
a  reelection.  A  bear  before  the  treasury  seemed 
quite  in  proper  place  just  now,  and  no  economy 
was  ridiculous  which  pointed  a  moral.  In  spite 
of  the  governor's  cold  and  repelling  demeanor,  he 


296  MICHIGAN. 

acquired  a  popularity  to  which  few  of  his  succes- 
sors attained  ;  and  it  may  be  said  of  his  four  years' 
service,  that  no  other  period  of  four  years  in  the 
history  of  the  State  has  been  more  useful  to  the 
people,  who  were  now  slowly  but  steadily  and 
surely  laying  the  foundations  of  a  solid  and  per- 
manent prosperity.  The  works  of  internal  im- 
provement were  managed  with  prudence  and  econ- 
omy, and  the  offer  which  had  been  made  to  state 
creditors  to  sell  them  and  receive  in  paymenfe*the 
outstanding  state  obligations  was  before  the  pub- 
lic, and  preparing  the  way  for  the  sale  that  soon 
afterwards  took  place. 

Emigrants  continued  to  come  into  the  State  in 
considerable  numbers,  and  the  process  of  clearing 
off  the  forest  and  improving  the  land  went  on 
rapidly,  but  the  people  were  able  to  add  to  their 
possessions  only  slowly  and  for  the  most  part  by 
hard  labor  and  strict  economy.  Following  Gov- 
ernor Barry  came  Alpheus  Felch,  who  resigned  in 
the  second  year  of  his  service  to  accept  the  seat 
to  which  he  had  been  elected  as  senator  in  Con- 
gress, and  was  succeeded  for  the  remainder  of  the 
term  by  William  L.  Greenly.  Then  came  Epaph- 
roditus  Ransom,  elected  in  1847,  in  whose  term 
the  capital  was  removed  from  Detroit,  where  it 
had  hitherto  been,  and  located  in  the  woods  of 
Lansing  forty  miles  from  any  railroad.  In  this 
same  term  are  to  be  noted  two  exceptions  to  the 
general  fact  that  the  emigrants  to  Michigan  came 


MORMONS  IN  MICHIGAN.  297 

singly  or  in  families,  and  not  in  organized  bodies 
of  colonists.  In  1847  a  party  of  Hollanders,  com- 
ing from  their  native  land  for  greater  religious 
liberty,  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Albertus  C. 
Van  Raalte  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church, 
founded  the  village  of  Holland  and  also  Hope  Col- 
lege, ;  and  they  were  followed  from  year  to  year  by 
many  others  who  also  settled  in  the  same  part  of 
the  State,  where  they  had  schools  and  publica- 
tions in  their  native  language  and  established 
many  churches.  They  were  sufficiently  numerous 
to  give  a  distinctive  character  to  the  population 
of  many  localities  in  that  section  of  the  State. 
But  it  was  a  good  character  and  the  people  were 
not  incongruous  with  the  existing  population  of 
the  State. 

A  colony  of  a  very  different  character  settled 
on  Beaver  Island,  led  by  James  J.  Strang,  who 
had  been  a  Mormon  elder  at  Nauvoo  and  high  in 
the  confidence  of  Joseph  Smith,  the  first  prophet. 
After  his  superior  was  murdered,  he  claimed  to 
have  been  designated  as  his  successor,  but  he  was 
defeated  in  his  aspirations  of  leadership  by  Brig- 
ham  Young,  and  driven  off  by  excommunication. 
He  went  first  to  Voree,  Wisconsin,  where  he 
started  a  colony  on  the  community  plan,  but  in 
1846  removed  to  Beaver  Island,  where  he  founded 
a  settlement  which  was  called  after  himself,  St. 
James.  Over  this  settlement  he  assumed  the  au- 
thority of  high  priest  and  king,  and  he  made  laws 


298  MICHIGAN. 

for  it  which  were  implicitly  obeyed.  He  estab- 
lished and  enforced  rules  of  strict  morality,  pro- 
hibited entirely  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  and  en- 
forced the  prohibition,  observed  the  seventh  day 
as  the  Sabbath,  built  a  tabernacle,  and  collected  a 
tenth  from  the  people  for  religious  and  all  other 
public  purposes.  For  two  successive  terms  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  performed 
the  duties  with  ability,  and  for  the  most  part  to 
general  acceptance.  But  in  1849  he  introdirt?ed 
polygamy,  and  though  it  never  spread  much 
among  his  people,  it  led  to  some  secessions,  to 
continuous  trouble  thereafter  with  the  "  gentiles," 
and  to  some  armed  collisions.  In  1856  he  was 
assassinated  by  renegade  Mormons  and  the  col- 
ony scattered,  leaving  behind  it  no  trace  in  Michi- 
gan of  this  strange  delusion. 

Governor  Barry  was  reflected  in  1849.  Up  to 
this  time  the  constitution  of  1835  had  remained 
in  force,  and  been  satisfactory  to  the  people.  But 
now  radicalism  was  in  the  air  the  world  over,  and 
discontent  with  existing  institutions  was  rife  in 
every  civilized  country.  In  France,  Italy,  Hun- 
gary, and  Germany  there  were  revolutions,  or  at- 
tempts at  revolution  with  considerable  success, 
and  everywhere  the  aspiration  of  the  people  was 
for  greater  liberty  and  more  privileges  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  less  power  to  the  rulers.  For  the  over- 
throw  of  existing  governments  there  could  be  no 
excuse  in  the  United  States,  but  uneasiness  and  a 


REVISION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION.  299 

desire  for  change  was  general,  and  existing  condi- 
tions in  law  and  in  society  encountered  sharp  and 
persistent  criticism.  The  current  of  anti-slavery 
agitation  was  particularly  strong  and  uncompro- 
mising, and  in  1848  the  Democratic  party  of  the 
country  temporarily  went  down  under  its  blows. 
An  agitation  in  favor  of  greater  rights  and  more 
distinct  individual  recognition  of  married  women 
in  the  law  went  to  some  extent  hand  in  hand  with 
the  agitation  against  slavery,  but  it  found  advo- 
cates in  every  party,  and  a  general  concession 
that  some  of  its  demands  were  proper.  The  gov- 
ernor's power  of  appointment  under  the  existing 
constitution  was  particularly  complained  of:  he 
appointed  the  judges  and  all  the  heads  of  depart- 
ment; and  this  seemed  an  imputation  upon  the 
judgment  of  the  people.  To  most  persons  there 
seemed  to  be  no  good  reason  why  they  should  not 
elect  all  of  their  officers  as  well  as  a  part  of  them. 
That  the  various  questions  in  government  then 
agitating  the  public  mind  might  be  properly  con- 
sidered, a  constitutional  convention  was  called, 
which  met  at  Lansing  on  the  first  Monday  of 
June,  1850,  and  proceeded  to  revise  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  State  with  much  thoroughness,  under 
the  influence  of  the  prevailing  radicalism.  A  few 
of  the  more  important  provisions  it  will  be  inter- 
esting to  notice.  A  married  woman,  it  was  de- 
clared, shall  hold  her  property,  whether  acquired 
before  or  after  marriage,  to  the  same  extent  as  if 


800  MICHIGAN. 

single,  and  may  dispose  of  it  by  contract,  deed,  or 
will  at  pleasure,  No  more  charters  of  private  in- 
corporation shall  be  passed  ;  but  corporations  shall 
be  formed  under  general  laws,  which  shall  at  all 
times  be  subject  to  legislative  control  and  repeal. 
By  this  provision  the  doctrine  of  the  Federal  Su« 
preme  Court  in  the  Dartmouth  College  case,  that 
the  charter  of  a  private  corporation  is  a  contract, 
—  a  doctrine  from  which  there  had  always  been 
much  dissent,  —  was  meant  to  be  altogether^x- 
cluded  in  respect  to  corporations  thereafter  formed. 
Aliens  were  given  the  liberty  to  hold  real  property 
with  the  same  freedom  as  citizens.  Judicial  offi- 
cers from  highest  to  lowest  were  required  to  be 
elected  by  the  people,  and  so  were  all  the  heads 
of  department  and  all  other  important  officers. 
And  various  provisions  were  adopted  to  bring  the 
exercise  of  power  as  near  as  possible  to  the  people 
concerned,  and  to  make  the  responsibility  constant 
and  direct.  Representatives  in  the  lower  house 
of  the  legislature  were  required  to  be  elected  for 
one  legislature  only,  and  in  single  districts.  Tlie 
county  board  of  supervisors  was  made  an  impor- 
tant body,  with  considerable  powers  of  local  legisla- 
tion, and  with  authority  to  pass  finally  and  exclu- 
sively upon  all  claims  against  the  county.  The 
old  abuses  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  in  England 
were  remembered,  and  inspired  a  provision  for 
abolishing  the  court,  and  handing  its  jurisdiction 
over  to  the  courts  of  law.  The  temperance  senti- 


RESTRICTIONS  ON  INDEBTEDNESS.  801 

ment  found  expression  in  a  provision  that  licenses 
for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  should  not  be 
granted.  The  evils  of  unrestricted  banking  were 
still  fresh  in  mind,  and  it  was  declared  that  no 
banking  law  should  be  passed  without  submission 
to  the  people,  nor  without  individual  liability  on 
the  part  of  officers  and  stockholders  ;  and  the  leg- 
islature was  to  have  no  power  to  authorize  a  sus- 
pension of  specie  payments.  The  grand  jury  was 
done  away  with  as  cumbrous  and  generally  un- 
necessary, though  one  might  be  ordered  for  special 
cases.  A  very  important  and  humane  provision 
was  that  a  homestead  should  be  exempted  from  ex- 
ecution for  debts,  and  also  not  less  than  five  hun- 
dred dollars  of  personal  property.  And  the  legis- 
lature was  required  to  make  the  public  schools 
free. 

Many  restrictions  were  imposed  on  the  legisla- 
tive power  of  the  State,  but  the  most  notable  of 
these  were  such  as  concerned  the  finances.  The 
State  was  now  in  debt,  but  its  credit  was  good, 
and  it  was  determined  that  this  should  be  sus- 
tained and  the  debt  paid  as  speedily  as  possible. 
The  legislature  was  therefore  required  immedi- 
ately to  provide  a  sinking  fund,  which  should  be 
increased  annually  at  least  five  per  cent,  until 
the  whole  debt  was  extinguished.  The  State  was 
to  be  at  liberty  to  contract  debts  to  meet  deficits 
in  revenue,  but  not  to  exceed  at  any  one  time 
fifty  thousand  dollars  ;  and  also  to  repel  invasion, 


802  MICHIGAN. 

suppress  insurrection,  or  defend  the  State  in  time 
of  vvur.  The  issue  of  state  sciipt  was  prohibited. 
These  provisions,  with  a  prohibition  against  the 
State  loaning  its  credit  to  individuals  or  corpora- 
tions, or  engaging  directly  or  indirectly  in  works 
of  internal  improvement,  were  thought  ample  to 
give  protection  against  the  consequences  of  a  re- 
turn  of  the  mania  under  which  the  five  million 
loan  had  been  contracted. 

The  provisions  respecting  salaries  of  state  offi- 
cials are  deserving  of  notice,  as  indicating  the  ten- 
dency of  public  thought  at  the  time.  It  is  first  to 
be  remarked  that  the  convention  determined  to  fix 
the  salaries,  so  that  it  should  not  be  in  the  power 
of  the  legislature  to  increase  them  under  the  in- 
fluence of  extravagant  ideas  or  of  lobby  pressure. 
Next  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  sums  named 
were  very  small;  small  even  for  the  time,  and  soon 
to  appear  ridiculously  so  when  the  expenses  of  liv- 
ing should  be  greatly  increased,  and  the  State  be- 
come populous  and  wealthy.  The  salary  of  the 
governor  was  fixed  at  one  thousand  dollars ;  that 
of  the  circuit  judges,  who  were  then  also  judges  of 
of  the  supreme  court,  one  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars,  while  the  other  state  officers  were  to  re- 
ceive, some  of  them  a  thousand  and  some  eight 
hundred  dollars.  The  people  of  that  day,  who 
were  only  through  the  most  rigid  economy  and  by 
slow  and  patient  steps  advancing  to  a  condition 
of  financial  independence  in  their  private  concerns, 


THE  EFFECT  OF  LOW  SALARIES.  303 

thought  these  salaries  sufficient.  They  were  equal 
to  the  average  expenditure  of  well-to-do  people  ; 
and  provision  to  that  extent,  it  was  thought,  should 
content  the  public  servants.  At  these  figures  the 
salaries,  with  the  exception  of  those  of  the  circuit 
judges,  which  have  been  raised  to  twenty-five  hun- 
dred dollars,  have  remained  ever  since.  It  has 
been  deemed,  by  many,  a  reproach  to  the  State 
that  this  has  been  the  case.  The  opinion  is  often 
and  very  strongly  expressed,  that  to  secure  the 
best  talent  in  the  service  of  the  State,  the  compen- 
sation must  be  equal  to  what  the  best  talent  se- 
cures in  the  various  branches  of  private  business. 
There  is  some  degree  of  truth  for  this  opinion  ;  at 
the  same  time  it  is  probably  true  that  no  citizen 
of  Michigan  ever  declined  one  of  its  leading  offices 
for  the  reason  solely  that  the  salary  fixed  by  the 
constitution  was  inferior  to  what  he  might  reason- 
ably look  for  in  private  life.  And  it  is  also  proba- 
bly true  that  the  low  compensation  for  public  ser- 
vices has  had  a  powerful  tendency  to  keep  alive 
ideas  of  economy  and  frugality  in  official  circles 
and  in  all  branches  of  state  expenditure,  and 
even  among  the  people  at  large  ;  and  that  we  may 
justly  attribute  to  it  some  influence  in  securing 
the  remarkable  exemption  from  official  pecula- 
tions and  legislative  scandals  and  corruption  which 
the  State  for  the  most  part  has  enjoyed. 

The  constitution  was  adopted,  and  it  has  con- 
tinued to  be  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State,  with 


304  MICHIGAN. 

slight  amendments,  to  the  present  day.  One  of  its 
provisions  is  that  every  sixteenth  year  the  question 
of  a  revision  shall  be  submitted  to  the  people.  It 
was  so  submitted  in  1866,  and  decided  in  the  af- 
firmative ;  but  when  a  revision  was  prepared  by  a 
convention  elected  for  the  purpose,  the  people  re- 
jected their  work.  In  1882  the  question  of  re- 
vision was  negatived  by  popular  vote.  Thus  since 
1850  no  disposition  has  been  manifested  to  tinker 
the  constitution,  but  conservative  ideas  have  st-ead- 
ily  prevailed.  The  most  important  amendment 
was  made  in  1875,  in  the  repeal  of  the  provision 
forbidding  licenses,  which  was  adopted  in  order  to 
make  way  for  heavy  taxation  of  the  liquor  traffic, 
after  prohibitory  legislation  had  been  in  exist- 
ence for  twenty  years.  Now  and  then  complaints 
are  made  of  the  system  which  makes  the  judges 
elective,  but  these  are  based  not  so  much  upon 
experience  as  upon  theory,  and  no  considerable 
disposition  has  at  any  time  been  manifested  among 
the  people  to  change  the  system.  Those  who 
note  carefully  the  results  have  not  perceived  that 
the  people  have  shown  less  inclination  to  be  in- 
dependent of  party  or  of  improper  influence  in  the 
choice  of  judges  than  have  been  executive  officers 
when  vested  with  the  appointing  power. 

A  brief  paragraph  will  bring  us  to  the  time 
of  the  great  civil  war.  Robert  McClelland  was 
elected  governor  for  one  year  in  1851  and  was 
reflected  for  two  years  in  1852,  but  resigned  to 


REPUBLICAN  ASCENDENCY.  305 

become  a  member  of  the  cabinet  of  President 
Pierce.  Andrew  Parsons,  the  lieutenant-governor, 
was  left  to  serve  out  the  unexpired  portion  of  his 
term.  Up  to  this  time,  from  1841,  the  Democratic 
party  had  been  in  power  in  the  State,  but  in  1854 
the  newly  formed  Republican  party  obtained  the 
ascendency  and  maintained  it  unbroken  for  twenty- 
eight  years,  electing  Kinsley  S.  Bingham  gov- 
ernor in  1854  and  1856,  and  Moses  Wisner  in 
1858.  Austin  Blair  was  elected  in  1860  and  be- 
came the  "  war  governor "  of  the  State ;  a  title 
which  by  his  integrity  and  patriotic  vigor  he  made 
one  of  lasting  honor. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  STATE   PKOVIDES    FOR   UNIVERSAL   EDUCA- 
TION. 

THE  founders  of  a  state  soon  pass  away  ;  btit  in 
their  aims  and  purposes,  and  to  some  extent  in 
their  personal  characteristics,  they  build  them- 
selves into  the  structure  they  create,  and  give  to 
it  a  character  and  individuality  of  its  own.  Ages 
afterwards  it  may  be  found  that  the  germinal 
thoughts  which  took  root  under  their  planting  are 
still  growing  and  expanding,  and  that  the  ideas 
with  which  they  quickened  the  early  polity  are 
dominant  in  the  life  of  the  mature  commonwealth, 
though  possibly  those  who  act  upon  and  give  effect 
to  them  may  have  lost  the  recollection  of  their 
origin. 

If  the  general  education  of  the  people  is  im- 
portant to  the  state,  Michigan  was  fortunate  in 
the  persons  to  whom  the  destinies  of  the  territory 
were  committed  in  its  early  days.  In  their  minds, 
as  we  find  them  expressed  in  the  laws  they 
adopted  and  the  institutions  they  founded,  two 
ideas  appear  to  have  been  dominant  from  the  earli- 
est period.  These  were,  that,  the  means  of  rudi- 


BEGINNINGS  OF  EDUCATIONAL   WORK.  •     307 

mentary  education  should  be  placed  within  the 
reach  of  every  child  in  the  political  society ;  and 
that  the  opportunity  for  thorough  culture  should 
be  given  as  speedily  and  as  completely  as  the 
circumstances  of  the  people  would  permit.  And 
these  ideas  were  never  lost  sight  of  until  full  effect 
was  given  to  them  after  the  admission  of  the 
State  to  the  Union. 

The  early  schools  in  the  territory  were  of  course 
French,  and  connected  with  the  church.  Their 
main  purpose  was  to  give  religious  instruction, 
and  they  were  attended  to  some  extent  by  Indian 
children.  But  private  schools  in  which  English 
was  taught  were  in  existence  from  the  time  of  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  war;  poor  affairs, 
and  scarcely  worth  remembering  now.  When 
Father  Richard  came,  he  made  an  endeavor  in 
the  direction  of  better  church  schools,  and  with 
considerable  success.  In  1804  he  established  a 
school  for  girls,  with  four  young  ladies  as  teachers, 
and  also  a  Latin  school  for  young  men.  Both  of 
these  were  broken  up  by  the  great  fire  of  the  next 
year,  but  schools  of  less  ambitious  character  were 
established  shortly  afterwards,  and  Father  Richard 
in  1808  reports  six  of  such  schools,  three  of  which 
were  taught  by  Indian  teachers.  The  instruction 
in  the  schools  for  girls  embraced  sewing,  spinning, 
knitting,  and  weaving,  and  to  the  Indian  children 
this  part  of  the  instruction  was  probably  the  most 
valuable.  Father  Richard  thought  his  schools 


308     •  MICHIGAN, 

ought  to  receive  public  assistance,  and  he  applied 
to  the  legislature  for  the  grant  of  a  lottery  fran- 
chise ;  but  though  the  evils  of  lotteries  were  not 
so  well  understood  then  as  now,  his  application 
failed  of  effect,  and  his  schools  continued  feeble 
and  of  low  grade. 

The  future  promised  better  things.  Before  the 
territory  was  detached  from  Indiana,  it  had  become 
the  settled  policy  of  the  United  States  to  reserve 
from  sale  the  sixteenth  section  of  every  surveyed 
township,  and  to  set  it  apart  for  the  use  of  the 
township  for  the  support  of  common  schools.  It 
had  also  become  customary  to  make  some  smaller 
donation  of  public  lands  for  the  endowment  of  a 
university,  and  one  township  of  such  lands  had 
been  appropriated  to  Michigan,  in  contemplation 
of  its  becoming  a  separate  government.  But  for 
a  long  time  these  donations  must  of  necessity  be 
of  little  value :  value  must  be  given  to  them  by 
the  settlement  and  improvement  of  the  country, 
and  in  the  mean  time  they  would  constitute  the 
promise  of  an  endowment  for  education  rather 
than  the  endowment  itself.  All  early  education, 
if  any  was  given  at  the  public  cost,  must  therefore 
be  provided  for  by  direct  taxation  of  the  people. 

In  1809,  while  as  yet  the  population  of  the  ter- 
ritory was  under  five  thousand,  an  act  was  adopted 
which  provided  for  the  laying  off  into  school  dis- 
tricts of  all  the  settled  portions  of  the  territory, 
and  for  an  enumeration  of  the  children  between 


THE   EARLY  SCHOOLS.  309 

the  ages  of  four  and  eighteen  In  each  of  the  dis- 
tricts. From  these  districts  annual  reports  were 
required  of  the  moneys  expended  in  the  support 
of  schools  and  the  construction  of  school  buildings, 
and  the  territory  was  to  levy  an  annual  tax  of  not 
less  than  two  nor  more  than  four  dollars  for  each 
child  reported  within  the  ages  above  mentioned. 
The  sum  collected  was  to  be  apportioned  among 
the  districts ;  not,  however,  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  children  in  them  respectively,  but  in 
proportion  to  the  sums  they  had  expended  in  the 
year  preceding  for  school  purposes.  The  gift  of 
the  territory  was  thus  made  in  aid  of  schools,  but 
was  so  apportioned  as  to  invite  and  encourage  lib- 
erality on  the  part  of  the  people  in  making  pro- 
visions from  their  own  means  for  them. 

The  schools  which  were  established  under  this 
act  must  have  been  very  few  in  number,  and  very 
primitive  in  all  their  appointments.  Eight  years 
afterwards,  however,  something  in  the  direction  of 
higher  and  better  education  was  attempted.  Rev. 
John  Monteith,  a  well-educated  Presbyterian  cler- 
gyman, had  come  to  Detroit  in  1816,  where  he  had 
collected  a  congregation  composed  of  various  de- 
nominations of  Protestants,  to  whom  he  preached 
on  Sundays.  He  soon  formed  the  acquaintance  of 
Father  Richard,  and  friendly  intercourse  between 
them  brought  out  the  fact  that  both  were  greatly 
concerned  at  the  want  of  means  of  education  for 
the  youth  of  the  territory,  and  willing  and  de- 


810  MICHIGAN. 

sirous  to  assist  in  supplying  them.  From  Gov- 
ernor Cass  they  found  ready  and  hearty  coopera- 
tion, and  the  eccentric  chief  justice  also  lent  assist- 
ance. The  latter  in  August,  1817,  drew  up  and 
secured  the  adoption  of  "  An  act  to  establish  the 
Catholepistemiad  or  University  of  Michigania," 
in  which  an  elaborate  plan  for  a  university  was 
marked  out.  The  plan  was  crude  and  pedantic, 
but  its  author  had  grasped  certain  principles 
which  were  of  the  very  highest  importance^  and 
which  from  this  time  became  incorporated  in  the 
polity  of  the  territory,  and  subsequently  of  the 
State  also.  In  every  state,  as  he  believed,  the 
education  of  the  people  is  important  to  the  state 
itself,  and  should  be  assumed  as  a  state  duty.  It 
should  not  be  restricted  to  elementary  education 
merely,  but  the  state  ought  to  place  within  the 
reach  of  its  youth  such  higher  education  also  as  is 
commonly  given  in  the  colleges  of  the  land.  And 
this  education  should  be  non-sectarian.  In  rec- 
ognition of  this  duty  the  act  provided  that  fifteen 
per  cent,  should  be  added  to  the  regular  territo- 
rial taxes,  to  be  appropriated  to  the  support  of 
the  university.  Students  entering  the  university 
should  pay  small  fees  if  able,  but  if  not  able  to 
pay,  the  fees  should  be  a  public  charge.  Sectari- 
anism in  the  university  was  not  expressly  legis- 
lated against,  but  its  absence  for  the  time  was  most 
effectually  secured  by  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Monteith  as  president  and  Father  Richard  as  his 


A   UNIVERSITY  IN  NAME.  311 

principal  assistant  in  instruction.  The  Presbyte- 
rian and  the  Catholic,  it  was  very  certain,  would 
not  cooperate  in  sectarian  work. 

This  was  an  ambitious  project  for  the  young 
and  feeble  territory,  which  as  yet  was  almost 
wholly  without  available  means,  and  whose  few 
schools  were  only  of  the  most  primitive  character. 
It  must  have  been  very  plain  to  every  one  that 
the  complete  realization  of  such  a  project  could 
only  be  accomplished  after  many  years  ;  but  the 
earnest  and  enthusiastic  parties  who  had  taken 
hold  of  it  determined  to  do  immediately  whatever 
should  be  found  within  their  power.  The  people 
of  Detroit  were  solicited  for  contributions  towards 
the  erection  of  a  university  building,  and  the 
foundations  of  the  building  were  soon  laid  with 
appropriate  ceremonies  and  public  rejoicings.  But 
though  a  school  was  soon  begun,  the  education 
given  in  it  was  necessarily  of  the  most  elementary 
character.  A  building  and  a  high-sounding  name 
could  not  make  a  university :  there  must  be  stu- 
dents competent  to  receive  collegiate  instruction, 
and  as  yet  there  were  no  such  students  in  the  terri- 
tory. But  it  is  something  to  have  high  aspira- 
tions, and  to  have  made  an  effort  in  the  direction 
of  their  realization. 

Nor  while  leading  men  among  the  white  people 
were  thus  engaging  in  the  preparatory  work  of 
education,  were  the  Indians  found  indisposed  to 
contribute  some  share  to  so  important  an  object. 


312  MICHIGAN. 

The  same  article  in  the  fundamental  ordinance  for 
the  government  of  the  territory  which  enjoined 
that  "the  utmost  good  faith  shall  always  be  ob- 
served towards  the  Indians,"  had  also  affirmed  the 
necessity  of  religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  to 
good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind, 
and  required  the  encouragement  of  schools  and 
the  means  of  education.  This  immediate  associa- 
tion of  religion  and  learning  with  good  faith  to 
the  Indians  was  emphasized  by  the  fact  thaUthe 
teachers  of  the  Indians  were  also  their  religious 
guides ;  and  these  had  always  been  found  to  be 
their  best  friends,  and  their  most  reliable  protect- 
ors against  the  rapacity  and  greed  of  their  white 
neighbors.  Possibly  in  the  great  conference  of 
Governor  Cass  and  General  McArthur  as  com- 
missioners on  the  part  of  the  United  States  with 
the  chiefs  of  the  Ottawa,  Chippewa,  and  Potta- 
watamie  tribes  of  Indians,  held  at  Fort  Meigs  on 
September  29,  1817,  the  governor  may  have  ven- 
tured with  diplomatic  skill  and  caution  to  bring 
freshly  to  their  minds  the  labors  of  their  priests 
and  teachers  for  their  good ;  and  possibly  the  In- 
dians, who  were  seldom  justly  chargeable  with 
forgetfulness  of  kind  treatment,  may  have  needed 
no  reminder  to  incline  them  to  make  suitable  ac- 
knowledgment. But  whatever  the  fact  may  be  as 
to  the  incentive,  the  value  of  religion  and  learning 
are  found  recognized  by  the  treaty  in  a  grant  of 
six  sections  of  land  in  equal  shares  to  the  Church 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN.  313 

of  St.  Anne  at  Detroit  and  to  "the  College  at 
Detroit."  The  Indians  made  the  grant,  as  they 
say  in  the  treaty,  because  of  being  "  attached  to 
the  Catholic  religion,  and  believing  they  may  wish 
some  of  their  children  hereafter  educated."  The 
gift  to  the  college  was  not  a  large  one,  and  it  would 
have  seemed  insignificant  if  made  before  the  In- 
dians had  alienated  the  principal  portion  of  their 
domain  to  the  government ;  but  its  merit  must  be 
estimated  by  what  they  had  retained  for  their 
own  use,  rather  than  by  the  extent  of  their  orig- 
inal possessions.  The  gift,  moreover,  was  fully 
equal  in  positive  value  and  prospectively  superior 
to  the  gifts  for  like  purposes  which  made  John 
Harvard  and  Elihu  Yale  immortal,  and  quite  as 
justly  entitles  Tontagini  and  his  associate  chief- 
tains to  grateful  remembrance  among  the  founders 
of  colleges. 

The  act  for  the  organization  of  the  university 
was  revised  in  1821,  and  relieved  of  its  pedantic 
features.  To  obtain  preparatory  schools,  trustees 
were  empowered  to  establish  from  time  to  time 
"such  colleges,  academies,  and  schools  depending 
upon  the  said  university  as  they  may  think 
proper,  and  as  the  funds  of  the  corporation  will 
permit ;  "  and  the_  name  was  changed  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan.  In  the  same  act  religious 
distinctions  in  the  governing  board,  the  board  of 
instruction,  and  in  the  privileges  of  students  were 
forbidden. 


314  MICHIGAN. 

But  the  university  was  still  but  a  plan  :  beyond 
its  name  there  was  as  yet  but  little  to  it.  The 
practical  development  of  the  common  school  sys- 
tem was  much  move  rapid,  and  gave  promise  that 
at  length  the  University  idea  would  be  realized. 
Early  in  1826  Congress  was  induced  to  grant  an 
additional  township  of  land  towards  the  endow- 
ment of  the  university  ;  and  Governor  Cass,  in  call- 
ing the  attention  of  the  legislative  council  to  this 
grant  in  the  following  November,  strongly  luges 
the  establishment  of  schools  to  be  supported  by 
taxation.  In  no  other  way,  he  thinks,  will  pro- 
vision be  made  sufficiently  extensive  and  suffi- 
ciently permanent  to  embrace  all  who  require  in- 
struction, and  who  have  not  the  means  of  obtaining 
it.  The  governor  specially  emphasized  the  politi- 
cal aspect  of  the  subject,  and  urged  the  importance 
that  all  who  were  to  be  rulers  of  the  State  should 
be  given  the  means  of  acquiring  fitness  for  their 
duties. 

These  wise  views  were  quite  in  advance  of  any 
then  prevalent  in  any  part  of  the  country.  The 
legislative  council  responded  by  making  such 
changes  in  the  school  laws  as  seemed  to  the  mem- 
bers to  tend  in  the  direction  recommended.  In 
1829  the  laws  were  completely  revised,  and  a 
department  of  education  was  established,  at  the 
head  of  which  was  to  be  a  superintendent  of  com- 
mon schools  appointed  by  the  governor.  The 
legislation  does  not,  however,  appear  as  yet  to 


THE  FREE  SCHOOL  SYSTEM.  315 

have  been  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  governor, 
and  lie  again  recurs  to  the  subject  in  his  message 
of  the  following  May.  No  wiser  or  juster  tax, 
he  argues,  can  be  levied  than  one  devoted  to  the 
education  of  the  poor ;  and  he  reiterates  and  am- 
plifies his  view,  that  political  institutions  whose 
foundations  rest  upon  public  opinion  can  never  be 
secure  unless  the  people  are  educated.  "  Public 
opinion,  to  be  safe,  must  be  enlightened." 

It  cannot  be  important  to  follow  in  detail  the 
subsequent  legislation  of  the  territory,  and  it  will 
suffice  to  say  that  it  was  in  the  direction  pointed 
out  by  the  governor,  and  that  provision  was  made 
whereby  schools  were  required  to  be  kept  in  every 
district  for  at  least  three  months  in  each  year  by 
teachers  of  approved  competency,  in  which  the 
children  of  the  poor  were  to  be  instructed  free  of 
charge  or  tax.  The  rate  bill  was  not  abolished 
for  those  who  were  able  to  pay  it ;  but  the  door  of 
the  school-house  was  set  open  to  the  poorest,  and 
the  people  united  in  the  expectation  expressed  by 
President  Monteith  in  his  first  annual  report,  that 
"thus  the  public  will  be  benefited  by  genius  and 
talent  which  would  otherwise  have  died  in  ob- 
scurity." 

But  the  schools  at  the  time  state  government 
was  established  were  still  very  primitive  affairs. 
There  were  as  yet  no  professional  teachers.  Some 
farmer  or  mechanic,  or  perhaps  a  grown-up  son  or 
daughter,  who  had  had  the  advantages  of  the  com- 


316  MICHIGAN. 

mon  schools  of  New  York  or  New  England,  offered 
his  or  her  services  as  teacher  during  the  dull  sea- 
son of  regular  employment,  and  consented  to  take 
as  wages  such  sum  as  the  district  could  afford  to 
pay.  A  summer  school  taught  by  a  woman,  who 
would  be  paid  six  or  eight  dollars  a  month,  and  a 
winter  school  taught  by  a  man,  whose  compensa- 
tion was  twice  as  great,  was  what  was  generally 
provided  for.  But  in  addition  to  wages  the  teacher 
received  his  board  ;  "  boarding  around  "  among  the 
patrons  of  the  school,  and  remaining  with  each  a 
number  of  days  determined  by  the  number  of  pu- 
pils sent  to  the  school.  If  we  shall  incline  to  visit 
one  of  these  schools  in  the  newer  portions  of  the 
State  we  shall  be  likely  to  find  it  housed  in  a  log 
structure,  covered  with  bark,  imperfectly  plastered 
between  the  logs  to  exclude  the  cold,  and  still  more 
imperfectly  warmed  by  an  open  fire-place  or  by  a 
box  stove,  for  which  fuel  is  provided,  as  the  board 
for  the  teacher  is,  by  proportional  contributions. 
The  seats  for  the  pupils  may  be  slabs  set  upon 
legs ;  the  desks  may  be  other  slabs  laid  upon  sup- 
ports fixed  to  the  logs  which  constitute  the  sides 
of  the  room.  The  school  books  are  miscellaneous, 
and  consist  largely  of  those  brought  })j  the  par- 
ents when  emigrating  to  the  territory.  Those  who 
write  must  rule  their  paper  with  pencils  of  lead  of 
their  own  manufacture,  and  the  master  will  make 
pens  for  them  from  the  goose-quill.  For  the  most 
part  the  ink  is  of  home  manufacture.  There  are 


THE  AVERAGE  DISTRICT  SCHOOL.  317 

no  globes  ;  no  means  of  illustration  ;  not  even  a 
blackboard.  Even  President  Monteith,  it  is  said, 
drew  his  mathematical  figures  in  sawdust  for  want 
of  anything  better ;  but  in  the  common  schools  the 
higher  mathematics  are  unknown,  and  the  pupil 
who  has  mastered  vulgar  fractions  and  the  rule  of 
three  is  likely  to  be  the  best  of  the  school.  Order 
is  the  first  law,  and  the  rod  the  accepted  means  of 
enforcing  it.  The  pupils  are  classified  according 
to  attainments,  but  not  unfrequently  the  master 
has  little  competency  to  do  more  than  give  out 
the  lessons  as  he  found  them  in  the  book,  and  to 
hear  recitations  without  comment  or  explanation. 
Such  in  many  cases  was  the  Michigan  school. 
Better  school  buildings  were  now  springing  up, 
with  better  furnishing ;  but  as  a  rule  nothing 
could  seem  more  dreary  or  dispiriting  than  the 
average  district  school.  Nevertheless,  many  an 
intellect  received  a  quickening  in  these  schools 
which  fitted  it  for  a  life  of  useful  and  honorable 
activity.  The  new  settlers  made  such  provision 
for  the  education  of  their  children  as  was  possible 
under  the  circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed, 
and  the  fruits  of  their  labors  and  sacrifices  in  this 
direction  were  in  many  cases  surprising. 

The  territorial  council  granted  charters  for  acad- 
emies, but  the  name  in  most  cases  indicated  rather 
an  aspiration  than  an  existence.  In  two  or  three 
places  good  service  was  being  done  ;  notably  at 
Ann  Arbor  by  Mr.  O.  C.  Thompson,  a  graduate  of 


318  MICHIGAN. 

Princeton,  sent  out  for  missionary  work  by  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  But  farther  back  in  the 
woods,  a  young  graduate  of  Brown,  while  thread- 
ing his  devious  way  through  the  forest  from  one 
lonely  cabin  to  another,  by  trails  that  required  the 
fording  of  rivers  and  the  crossing  of  treacherous 
marshes,  that  he  might  minister  in  sacred  things 
to  those  in  need,  was  at  the  same  time  consider- 
ing the  means  of  popular  education,  and  making 
it  the  subject  of  deep  and  earnest  thought."*  He 
was  quite  in  accord  with  the  governor  as  to  the 
duty  of  the  State  to  provide  for  the  education  of 
its  youth,  and  the  questions  he  dwelt  upon  were 
questions  of  methods  and  means. 

John  D.  Pierce  had  been  sent  out  in  1831  by 
the  Congregation alists  as  a  home  missionary,  and 
had  held  the  first  religious  meetings  in  the  coun- 
ties of  Jackson,  Calhoun,  and  Eaton.  He  had 
also  solemnized  the  first  marriage  and  officiated  at 
the  first  funeral  ever  taken  in  charge  by  a  Prot- 
estant clergyman  in  western  Michigan.  He  was 
an  enthusiast  in  his  work,  but  his  enthusiasm  was 
tempered  and  controlled  by  thorough  practical 
sense,  and  he  joined  to  the  earnestness  and  self- 
abnegation  of  the  devoted  missionary  the  level- 
headedness so  essential  to  success  in  the  ordinary 
walks  of  business  life.  He  had  brought  with  him 
into  the  wilderness  as  a  bride  an  intelligent  and 
refined  lady  whom  he  had  married  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  we  catch  occasional  glimpses  of 


FRONTIER  MISSIONARY  LIFE.  319 

her  as  she  is  conveyed  in  an  open  ox-cart  from 
Detroit  to  distant  Marshall,  often  drenched  in  rain 
and  sometimes  fast  in  the  mud,  catching  at  night 
as  best  she  may  such  unrefreshing  rest  as  a  bed  of 
boughs  or  a  blanket  on  the  floor  of  a  log  cabin  may 
afford.  It  is  a  time  when  emigration  comes  by 
caravans ;  and  though  at  nearly  every  house  may 
there  be  found  entertainment  for  man  and  beast, 
the  accommodations  are  meagre  and  quite  below 
the  demands  upon  them.  To  the  bride,  delicately 
trained  and  unfamiliar  with  hardships,  the  log 
cabins  of  Michigan,  in  which  many  of  the  ordinary 
comforts  of  home  life  were  as  yet  unknown,  must 
have  seemed  sufficiently  forbidding ;  but  she  was 
not  long  permitted  to  share  her  husband's  labors 
and  privations,  for  in  the  very  next  year  the  Asi- 
atic cholera  in  its  devastating  march  across  the 
country  sought  her  out  in  the  wilderness  and  made 
her  its  victim.  The  missionary  was  left  alone  with 
his  labors  ;  but  he  had  devoted  his  life  to  the  work 
to  which  he  had  been  called,  and  he  addressed 
himself  with  patience  and  trust  to  his  laborious 
and  absorbing  duties. 

The  constitution <il  convention  of  1835  had  rec- 
ognized the  supreme  importance  of  education,  and 
had  made  the  position  of  superintendent  of  public 
instruction  a  permanent  constitutional  office.  It 
had  required  a  school  to  be  kept  in  each  school 
district  for  at  least  three  months  in  every  year, 
and  had  pledged  the  faith  of  the  State  to  the  pres- 


320  MICHIGAN. 

ervation  of  all  donations  for  schools  or  for  the 
university,  as  permanent  funds  for  the  purposes 
for  which  they  were  given.  But  as  yet  the  State 
was  not  admitted  to  the  Union,  and  it  was  not 
known  what  form  any  donation  by  the  federal 
government  would  take.  General  Isaac  E.  Crary, 
a  neighbor  of  the  young  missionary,  had  been  a 
member  of  the  constitutional  convention,  and  the 
two  had  frequently  discussed  together  the  subject 
of  state  education,  and  had  enlightened  them  un- 
derstandings, so  far  as  the  books  of  the  day  would 
enable  them  to  do  so,  by  information  respecting 
what  was  being  done  in  Prussia  and  other  coun- 
tries. They  agreed  that  education  ought  to  be  an 
independent  department  of  the  state  government; 
and  it  was  made  so  by  the  constitutional  convention. 
They  also  agreed  that  the  lands  granted  by  the 
general  government  for  school  purposes  ought  to 
be  granted  directly  to  the  State  as  trustee,  instead 
of  being  given  to  the  townships  as  had  been  cus- 
tomary. With  the  State  as  trustee  of  the  lands, 
there  would  be  reason  for  hope  that  the  endow- 
ment for  schools  would  be  carefully  preserved  and 
utilized,  but  in  the  hands  of  the  townships  the 
experience  of  other  states  had  not  been  such  as 
to  justify  confidence  in  like  preservation.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  State,  General  Crary  was  its  first 
representative  in  Congress ;  and  through  his  pru- 
dent and  cautious  management  the  grant  by  the 
general  government  was  so  shaped  as  to  meet  his 


THE  STATE  SYSTEM  OF  SCHOOLS.       321 

views.  This  was  a  great  and  lasting  advantage, 
and  the  ultimate  results  were  equal  to  the  highest 
expectations  of  those  who  had  secured  it.  The 
State  faithfully  observed  its  duty  as  trustee ;  no 
part  of  the  school-fund  grant  was  ever  lost ;  none 
of  the  funds  derived  from  it  were  ever  squandered 
or  misappropriated. 

But  the  services  of  General  Crary  to  education 
were  not  confined  to  those  performed  at  Washing- 
ton. On  his  way  to  the  seat  of  government  he 
had  called  upon  Governor  Mason  at  Detroit,  and 
had  taken  the  liberty  to  urge  upon  him  the  im- 
portance of  placing  the  subject  of  education  in  com- 
petent hands.  He  had  gone  farther  than  this,  and 
recommended  the  young  missionary  as  the  suitable 
person  for  superintendent  of  public  instruction. 
The  governor  was  favorably  impressed  with  his 
views,  and  sent  for  Mr.  Pierce,  with  whom  he  had 
a  long  and  satisfactory  interview.  The  result  was 
his  appointment  to  the  office,  and  the  commit- 
ment to  his  control  of  the  whole  subject  of  state 
education,  with  the  charge  and  management  of  a 
million  acres  of  land.  The  legislature  called  upon 
him  to  prepare  and  report  a  system  of  common 
school  and  university  education,  and  the  report 
was  made,  approved,  and  adopted  the  very  year 
the  State  entered  the  Union.  The  system  re- 
ported has  in  the  main  been  in  existence  ever 
since. 

It  would  not  be  important  to  enter  here  upon 
21 


322  MICHIGAN. 

an  examination  of  the  state  common  school  sys- 
tem in  detail.  It  will  suffice  to  say  that  it  con- 
templated the  establishment  of  a  primary  school 
within  the  reach  of  every  child  in  the  State,  and 
that  it  gave  full  power  to  the  voters  of  every 
school  district  to  establish  free  schools  if  they 
should  see  fit  to  do  so.  The  time  had  not  yet 
come  for  making  the  maintenance  of  free  schools 
compulsory :  public  opinion  in  some  quarters  was 
not  yet  educated  up  to  it.  But  the  law  then 
adopted  was  a  long  step  in  that  direction ;  and 
the  distribution  to  be  annually  made  among  the 
school  districts,  of  the  income  derived  from  moneys 
received  on  sales  of  school  lands,  would  do  some- 
thing towards  encouraging  them  to  make  the 
schools  free,  and  towards  lightening  the  burden 
of  doing  so. 

The  plan  for  the  organization  of  the  university 
was  not  so  readily  accepted  as  that  for  the  primary 
schools.  Mr.  Pierce  encountered  at  the  outset  a 
prejudice  against  state  universities,  and  a  disbelief 
in  their  success,  based  upon  the  failure  that  had 
generally  attended  the  effort  to  establish  them. 
He  encountered  also,  to  some  extent,  the  opposition 
of  the  several  religious  denominations,  each  of 
which  wanted  a  college  of  its  own,  and  was  also 
jealous  lest  some  other  might  obtain  control  of  a 
state  institution.  But  the  superintendent  had  faith 
in  himself  and  faith  in  the  people  ;  and  he  pro- 
ceeded to  mark  out  a  plan  which  he  proposed  to 


THE  PLAN  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY.     323 

put  in  operation  on  a  non-sectarian  basis,  and  with 
a  curriculum  of  studies  not  inferior  to  that  of  any 
college  in  the  land.  The  government  of  the  uni- 
versity was  to  be  in  a  board  of  regents  of  execu- 
tive appointment,  with  the  state  officers  as  ex  offi- 
cio  members,  and  its  support  was  to  come  from 
the  income  derived  from  the  sale  or  leasing  of  uni- 
versity lands.  No  more  than  ten  dollars  was  to 
be  demanded  for  admission  to  the  university,  and 
residents  of  the  State  were  to  be  charged  nothing 
for  tuition.  The  plan  contemplated  a  department 
of  literature,  science,  and  the  arts,  a  department  of 
law,  and  a  department  of  medicine,  to  be  estab- 
lished successively  as  the  funds  at  the  control  of 
the  regents  would  permit.  In  the  appointments  to 
the  several  chairs  of  instruction  it  was  intended 
that  the  leading  religious  denominations  should  be 
suitably  represented,  and  that  no  just  cause  of 
complaint  should  be  open  to  any  one  on  the  score 
of  religious  partiality  in  the  governing  board. 

This  was  the  general  plan.  But  obviously  it 
was  a  plan  whose  complete  realization  must  be 
postponed  for  some  considerable  period.  It  was 
not  proposed  that  there  should  be  in  the  university 
any  preparatory  department ;  and  the  old  diffi- 
culty, that  there  were  no  students  prepared  to  re- 
ceive the  higher  instruction,  was  still  as  apparent 
as  ever.  In  the  whole  State,  also,  there  were  not 
more  than  one  or  two  schools  in  which  the  neces- 
sary preparatory  training  could  be  had.  Prepara- 


324  MICHIGAN. 

tory  schools  seemed,  therefore,  to  be  the  first  ne- 
cessity ;  and  partly  to  provide  them,  and  partly  to 
give  agricultural  education,  the  regents  were  em- 
powered to  establish  branches  of  the  university 
when  their  means  would  allow  of  it. 

The  department  of  literature,  science,  and  the 
arts  was  shortly  established,  with  beginnings 
which  were  very  humble.  But  its  five  students 
for  the  first  year  were  added  to  in  each  successive 
year,  until  the  department  attained  the  dimensions 
of  a  respectable  college.  In  1850  the  department 
of  medicine  was  established,  and  something  of  the 
university  form  began  to  appear.  By  the  new 
constitution,  adopted  that  year,  the  organization 
of  the  board  of  regents  was  popularized  by  giving 
the  election  to  the  people  by  direct  vote.  The 
term,  moreover,  was  made  a  term  of  eight  years, 
and  the  board  was  given  complete  control  of  the 
university  and  its  funds,  to  the  exclusion  of  legis- 
lative dictation.  This  was  felt  to  be  a  most  valu- 
able and  important  change  :  it  secured  steadiness 
in  plan  and  conservatism  in  management,  and  it 
placed  the  university  beyond  the  dangers  that 
might  spring  from  popular  excitements  and  preju- 
dices, and  from  political  overturns.  A  few  years 
later  was  founded  the  department  of  law,  giving 
symmetry  to  the  university,  and  bringing  strength 
to  the  other  departments. 

Meantime  the  curriculum  of  the  university  was 
being  enlarged  and  liberalized  in  many  ways,  and 


THE  UNIVERSITY  SYSTEM.        325 

especially  in  giving  to  students  a  latitude  in  the 
choice  of  studies  quite  beyond  what  had  before 
been  allowed  in  similar  institutions.  The  fact 
was  recognized  that  the  needs  of  intellectual  train- 
ing and  acquirement  were  not  the  same  in  differ- 
ent occupations  and  different  walks  in  life,  and 
that  to  prescribe  the  same  course  of  instruction 
for  all  was  to  compel  a  waste  of  time  and  effort 
by  many,  when  the  same  time  and  effort  might 
usefully  be  employed  in  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge that  would  have  special  importance  and 
value.  Many  parallel  courses  of  instruction  were 
therefore  marked  out,  and  a  liberty  of  choice  given 
that  was  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  those  who 
desired  to  avail  themselves  of  university  training. 
New  schools  were  also  established :  the  school  of 
pharmacy,  the  school  of  homoapathic  medicine, 
the  dental  school,  the  school  of  music,  and  the 
school  of  political  science ;  so  that  the  university 
came  to  have  many  departments,  instead  of  the 
three  originally  contemplated.  To  give  all  these 
schools  due  support,  the  income  derived  from  the 
sale  of  university  lands  was  found  quite  inade- 
quate, and  the  State  by  taxation  supplied  the  de- 
ficiencies, though  observing  in  doing  so  the  same 
rigid  economy  that  had  always  characterized  its 
expenditures  for  services  rendered  to  the  public. 
The  regents  also,  disregarding  antiquated  preju- 
dices, and  the  prophecies  of  evil  with  which  ultra- 
conservatism  was  so  ready,  threw  open  the  doors 


326  MICHIGAN. 

of  every  school  to  women,  and  thereby  offered  to 
them  every  opportunity  for  liberal  education  winch 
was  placed  within  the  reach  of  the  other  sex. 
This  was  a  measure  of  justice,  and  its  advocates 
soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  none 
of  the  prophesied  evils  followed  from  it.  It  was 
adopted  as  soon  as  the  demand  for  it  was  sufficient 
to  justify  incurring  the  necessary  additional  ex- 
pense, and  it  had  from  the  first  and  has  retained 
the  popular  approval.  -*• 

The  branches  of  the  university  which  the  re- 
gents established  were  not  long  maintained,  for  the 
sufficient  reason  that  they  were  not  long  needed. 
The  common  schools  of  the  State  came  in  time  to 
do  admirable  work,  and  in  the  leading  towns  they 
grew  into  high  schools,  with  numerous  teachers, 
where  the  classics  were  taught,  and  where  young 
men  and  women  could  be  and  were  prepared  for 
college.  Admirable  work  was  done  by  some  of 
them  in  this  direction  ;  and  one  —  the  school  at 
Ann  Arbor  —  annually  for  the  ten  years  preced- 
ing 1884  graduated  an  average  number  of  pu- 
pils, with  full  preparation  to  enter  upon  a  regu- 
lar university  course,  greater,  it  is  believed,  than 
is  fitted  for  college  in  any  other  public  school  in 
the  country.  These  high  schools  are  the  acad- 
emies of  the  State  ;  the  work  they  do  is  of  the 
most  satisfactory  and  substantial  character,  and 
the  State  is  justly  proud  of  them. 

The  constitution  of  1850  made  it  the  duty  of 


INTERMEDIATE  SCHOOLS.  327 

the  legislature,  within  five  years  from  its  adoption, 
to  make  provision  in  every  school  district  for  free 
instruction  at  least  three  months  in  the  year. 
The  duty  was  only  in  part  performed  within  the 
time  prescribed;  but  the  high  schools  as  a  rule 
were  soon  for  the  most  part  made  free,  and  the 
rate  bill  is  now  at  last  abolished  throughout  the 
State.  Free  instruction  in  the  common  schools 
has  thus  "become  the  right  of  every  child  of  proper 
age  in  the  State. 

Such  in  brief  has  been  the  progress  of  instruc- 
tion in  the  common  schools,  which  are  the  founda- 
tion of  the  state  system  of  education,  and  in  the 
university  which  crowns  and  completes  the  struc- 
ture. But  between  the  common  school  and  the 
university  are  other  institutions,  each  of  which  has 
its  appropriate  place  in  the  system,  and  is  neces- 
sary to  complete  it.  Foremost  of  these  are  the 
State  Normal  School  at  Ypsilanti,  and  the  State 
Agricultural  College  at  Lansing.  A  school  for 
the  deaf  and  dumb  at  Flint  and  another  for  the 
blind  at  Lansing  are  liberally  supported  by  the 
State,  and  make  ample  provision  for  such  educa- 
tion as  those  unfortunate  classes  are  capable  of 
receiving.  In  1874  a  state  school  for  depend- 
ent children  was  opened  at  Coldwater.  Into  this 
school  are  gathered  orphan  children  who  are 
without  means  of  support,  and  children  who  be- 
come inmates  of  county  almshouses,  and  they 
are  not  only  given  the  ordinary  instruction  of 


328  MICHIGAN. 

schools,  but  the  benefits  of  family  life  as  well.  It 
is  a  part  of  the  plan  of  the  school  that  suitable 
homes  where  they  may  be  adopted,  or  places 
where  they  can  receive  remunerative  employ- 
ment, shall  be  found  for  the  pupils.  In  this  way 
many  who  would  be  in  danger  of  drifting  through 
want  and  neglect  into  vice  and  crime  are  saved  to 
useful  and  honorable  lives. 

Such  is  the  educational  system  of  Michigan. 
Its  founders  took  position  in  advance  of*  the 
thought  of  their  day,  and  those  who  followed 
them  have  endeavored  to  give  effect  in  full  meas- 
ure to  their  views.  No  commonwealth  in  the 
world  makes  provision  more  broad,  complete,  or 
thorough  for  the  general  education  of  the  people, 
and  very  few  for  that  which  is  equal.  It  has  been 
the  settled  conviction  of  the  people  for  many 
years,  that  there  can  be  no  more  worthy  expen- 
diture of  public  moneys  than  in  the  training  of 
men  and  women  in  useful  knowledge  ;  and  they 
have  acted  upon  that  conviction.  The  newer 
states  of  the  Union  in  framing  their  educational 
systems  have  been  glad  to  follow  the  example  of 
Michigan,  and  have  had  fruitful  and  satisfactory 
success  in  proportion  as  they  have  adhered  to  it. 
And  for  all  that  has  been  accomplished,  Michigan 
is  indebted  to  the  intelligence,  the  unselfishness, 
and  the  far-seeing  wisdom  of  some  of  its  own  em- 
inent citizens,  who  with  the  public  confidence  for 
their  support  have  not  waited  for  older  but  more 


EDUCATION  IN  MICHIGAN.  329 

provincial  states  to  point  the  way,  but  have  trust- 
fully moved  on  from  step  to  step  in  the  direction 
of  an  ideal  excellence  which  WHS  early  in  their 
minds,  and  has  been  steadily  adhered  to  since. 

No  feature  of  the  educational  work  of  Michigan 
is  more  satisfactory  in  the  retrospect  than  the 
unity  of  effort  in  prosecuting  it ;  all  classes,  as  a 
general  fact,  having  given  it  liberal  support.  This 
is  true  of  the  immigrant  as  well  as  of  the  native 
born  citizen  ;  and  of  the  Germans,  who  were  most 
numerous  of  the  later  immigrants,  it  may  justly 
be  said,  they  were  as  active  and  helpful  in  sup- 
port of  the  schools  as  they  were  industrious  and 
thrifty  in  their  private  business. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE  WAR   IN   DEFENSE   OF  THE  UNION. 

A  GREAT  war  was  now  about  to  convulse  the 
Union,  of  which  slavery  would  be  the  occasion, 
but  which  would  present  issues  far  transcencfing 
in  importance  any  which  were  involved  in  the 
further  continuance  of  that  institution,  great  as 
were  the  evils  which  necessarily  sprung  from  it. 
The  states  of  the  Union,  which  at  the  time  of  the 
separation  from  the  mother  country  were  thirteen 
in  number,  had  added  other  commonwealths  one 
by  one  until  the  whole  number  had  become  thirty- 
three,  united  under  a  constitution  which  gave  to 
the  weakest  for  all  purposes  of  protection  the 
strength  and  resources  of  all,  and  which,  by  pro- 
viding for  the  peaceful  consideration  and  adjust- 
ment by  regular  tribunals  of  all  controversies, 
which  might  otherwise  give  occasion  for  appeals 
to  force,  gave  to  the  whole  family  of  states  the 
best  security  for  amicable  and  profitable  relations, 
and  to  civilization  the  best  protection  that  it  is 
possible  for  statesmanship  to  devise.  The  same 
constitution,  while  it  insured  peace  to  the  states, 
diminished  immensely  the  danger  of  hostilities 


THE  PROPOSAL  FOR  DISUNION.  331 

with  foreign  nations,  not  only  because  it  made 
the  states  thus  united  sufficiently  powerful  to 
command  respect,  but  also  because  it  left  interna- 
tional relations  exclusively  to  the  federal  govern- 
ment, and  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  any  single 
state,  or  even  of  any  number  of  states,  to  disturb 
the  peace  of  the  world  without  the  general  con- 
sent given  through  the  federal  Congress.  Under 
the  influence  of  the  passions  excited  by  the  con- 
troversy over  slavery  it  was  now  proposed  to  break 
up  the  Union  into  sections.  That  great  evils  were 
likely  to  flow  from  this  was  certain ;  only  the 
number  and  extent  were  in  doubt.  It  would  be  a 
distinctively  retrogressive  step,  taken  in  a  century 
when  civilization  was  progressing  more  rapidly 
than  ever  before  ;  it  must  abolish,  as  between  the 
states,  in  different  sections,  the  methods  provided 
for  the  peaceful  determination  of  controversies  ;  if 
it  could  be  accomplished  peacefully,  which  was 
more  than  doubtful,  it  would  still  multiply  im- 
mensely the  dangers  to  peace  among  the  states, 
and  would  make  the  very  proximity  of  states 
friendly  in  union  a  continual  menace  and  danger. 
And  the  claim  of  a  right  to  disrupt  the  Union  was 
planted  upon  a  principle  of  disintegration  whose 
very  acceptance  would  not  only  be  justification  in 
advance  for  further  separations,  but  would  be  a 
constant  and  tempting  invitation  to  discontented 
parties  to  reject  the  adjustment  of  controversies 
by  regular  tribunals,  and  substitute  the  arbitra- 


832  MICHIGAN. 

ment  of  the  sword.  The  proposed  disruption  of 
the  Union  must  therefore,  irrespective  of  its  effect 
upon  the  institution  of  slavery,  be  a  distinct  loss 
to  civilization,  in  that  it  would  destroy  or  at  lenst 
diminish  the  securities  which  statesmanship  had 
contrived  for  the  peace  of  the  world,  and  especially 
for  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  American 
world.  It  would  also,  in  its  demonstration  that 
the  written  constitution  of  the  leading  federal 
government  of  the  world  was  inadequate  tq^the 
strain  and  crucial  test  of  a  heated  domestic  con- 
troversy, tend  to  weaken  very  greatly  the  popular 
tendency  towards  free  institutions,  and  the  har- 
monious cooperation  of  free  states  which  was  char- 
acteristic of  the  age. 

But  slavery  was  an  element  of  discord  in  the 
Union  which  it  was  daily  becoming  more  difficult 
to  deal  with  peacefully.  It  had  had  its  origin  at 
a  time  when  it  was  not  condemned  as  it  now  was 
by  the  enlightened  conscience  of  the  civilized 
world.  There  were  slaves  in  Virginia  when  the 
Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth ;  and  every  Ameri- 
can colony  became  slaveholding,  and  continued  to 
be  so  when,  by  their  declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, the  united  colonies  declared  liberty  to  be  an 
inalienable  right.  When  independence  was  ac- 
knowledged by  Great  Britain,  only  one  state  had 
as  yet  become  non-slaveholding.  So  accustomed 
were  the  people  to  the  institution,  that  its  right- 
fulness  was  seldom  questioned,  and  only  now  and 


THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  333 

then  did  any  one  venture  to  remark  upon  the  in- 
consistency of  a  people  fighting  for  their  own  lib- 
erties while  holding  others  in  bondage.  The  first 
damaging  blow  to  slavery  may  almost  be  said  to 
have  been  inadvertent :  it  was  when  the  people  of 
Massachusetts,  without  chattel  slavery  in  mind, 
declared  by  the  constitution  of  1780  that  "  all 
men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  have  certain 
natural,  essential,  and  inalienable  rights ;  among 
which  may  be  reckoned  the  right  of  enjoying 
and  defending  their  rights  and  liberties."  This, 
as  the  courts  decided,  of  its  own  force  put  an  end 
to  slavery  within  the  state.  The  second  and  far 
more  important  blow  was  given  when  Congress 
incorporated  in  the  ordinance  of  1787  the  anti- 
slavery  proviso.  This  was  a  great  and  notable 
event ;  and  was  prophetic  of  others,  for  it  was  a 
precedent  for  putting  the  government  distinctly 
on  the  side  of  freedom.  And  then  in  1820  came 
the  Missouri  Compromise  legislation,  by  which 
slavery  was  prohibited  in  all  the  territory  then 
belonging  to  the  Union  lying  to  the  north  of  lat- 
itude thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes. 

It  seemed  at  the  time  that  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise insured  to  the  non-slaveholding  states  an 
eventual  preponderance  of  power  in  the  Union; 
but  this  was  put  in  peril  by  the  large  acquisitions 
of  territory  from  Mexico  at  the  conclusion  of  war 
with  that  republic.  In  the  justice  of  the  war  with 
Mexico  there  had  not  been  entire  unaminity  of 


334  MICHIGAN. 

opinion  on  the  part  of  the  American  people.  Many 
had  believed  it  was  begun  and  carried  on  solely 
for  the  purposes  of  an  extension  of  slavery,  and  for 
obtaining  territory  which  would  eventually  become 
slave  states  ;  and  they  deemed  it  their  duty,  while 
the  war  was  still  in  progress,  to  render  such  a  re- 
sult impossible,  by  annexing  a  condition  to  any 
appropriation  for  the  acquisition  of  territory,  that 
in  whatever  should  be  acquired  there  shoukj^be 
no  slavery. 

General  Cass  was  at  that  time  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  to  which  he  had  been  elected 
in  1845.  He  opposed  the  condition,  on  the  grounds, 
among  others,  that  it  would  probably  defeat  alto- 
gether any  acquisition  of  territory  from  Mexico, 
and  also  that  at  most  it  would  be  a  mere  declara- 
tion of  present  legislative  intent  on  the  subject, 
and  would  bind  no  subsequent  Congress  when 
practical  legislation  came  to  be  adopted.  A  lit- 
tle later  he  wrote  his  famous  Nicholson  letter,  in 
which  he  laid  down  the  doctrine  that  no  power 
had  been  granted  to  Congress  by  the  constitution 
to  legislate  generally  for  the  territories,  and  that 
its  authority  must  be  limited  to  the  establishment 
of  territorial  governments  when  needed,  leaving 
to  the  people  of  the  territories  the  regulation  of 
their  own  domestic  concerns,  in  subordination  to 
the  constitution.  This  would  leave  to  the  territo- 
rial legislature  the  full  control  over  the  subject  of 
slavery.  Upon  the  platform  of  this  letter  General 


THE   COMPROMISE  OF  1850.  335 

Cass  was  nominated  for  the  presidency  in  1848, 
but  was  defeated.  He  returned  after  the  election 
to  a  seat  in  the  Senate,  which  he  had  vacated 
pending  the  canvass,  and  took  part  in  the  adoption 
of  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  which  it  was 
hoped  would  put  an  end  to  an  exciting  and  dan- 
gerous controversy. 

But  the  compromise  of  1850  was  not  even  a 
truce  between  hostile  and  opposing  forces  :  it  was 
rather  an  agreement  by  parties  assuming  to  stand 
between  such  forces  that  there  should  be  no  more 
contention,  while  at  the  same  time  the  real  bellig- 
erents remained  as  hostile  as  ever,  and  awaited 
the  opportunity  for  an  encounter.  The  opportu- 
nity was  not  long  delayed :  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
bill  in  1852,  and  the  state  of  civil  war  in  Kansas 
which  resulted,  created  the  most  intense  excite- 
ment throughout  the  country,  and  strengthened 
very  greatly  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  in  all  the 
Northern  States,  while  intensifying  in  the  South- 
ern States  the  opposite  sentiment.  In  Michigan  a 
political  revolution  took  place  in  1854,  one  of  the 
results  of  which  was  that  General  Cass  failed  of  a 
reelection  to  the  Senate,  and  Zachariah  Chandler 
succeeded  him. 

In  the  presidential  election  of  1856  the  question 
of  setting  bounds  to  the  further  extension  of  sla- 
very was  the  paramount  issue,  and  it  continued 
to  be  the  leading  and  almost  the  sole  issue  in  na- 
tional affairs  until  after  the  election  of  1860,  when 


836  MICHIGAN. 

the  party  which  avowed  its  determination  to  pre- 
serve the  territories  for  freedom,  while  disclaiming 
any  purpose  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of 
slavery  in  the  states,  succeeded  in  electing  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  to  the  office  of  president.  But  par- 
ties, as  was  inevitable  with  the  issue  which  was 
made,  had  divided  on  sectional  lines. 

Immediately  after  the  election,  distinct  and  au- 
thoritative announcements  began  to  be  made  in 
the  Southern  States  that  it  would  not  be  submitted 
to.  It  was  declared  that  the  election  of  president 
by  a  party  hostile  to  slavery  was  a  wrong  and 
a  menace  to  all  the  slaveholding  states,  which 
neither  their  interests  nor  their  honor  would  per- 
mit them  to  acquiesce  in.  It  was  declared  further 
that  the  states,  which  had  assented  to  the  constitu- 
tion and  become  members  of  the  Federal  Union, 
had  an  undoubted  right  to  withdraw  that  assent 
at  any  time  and  to  secede  from  the  Union  ;  and 
several  of  the  states  in  a  short  time  had  called 
conventions  composed  of  delegates  chosen  by  the 
people,  by  which  ordinances  of  secession  from  the 
Union  were  adopted.  These  states  assumed  to  be 
thereafter  no  longer  under  the  federal  jurisdiction, 
and  they  formed  among  themselves  a  confedera- 
tion and  adopted  a  provisional  constitution. 

The  people  of  the  Northern  States,  as  a  general 
fact,  neither  agreed  that  the  slave  states  had  been 
wronged  in  the  election  of  an  anti-slavery  presi- 
dent, nor  assented  to  the  right  of  a  state  to  secede 


THE  BORDER  STATE  COMPROMISE.  337 

from  the  Union.  Assent  to  the  constitution  they 
regarded  as  irrevocable :  it  made  the  states  a  na- 
tion, and  imposed  upon  the  nation  the  obligation 
to  enforce  its  laws  in  every  state  regardless  of  any 
action  the  state  or  its  citizens  might  take  to  the 
contrary.  The  border  slave  states  took  a  position 
different  from  those  taken  to  the  north  and  the 
south  of  them.  The  people  for  the  most  part 
sympathized  with  their  Southern  brethren,  both 
in  their  view  of  the  wrong  that  was  done  them  in 
the  election,  and  in  their  belief  in  the  right  to  se- 
cede ;  but  they  deprecated  the  action  which  the 
extreme  Southern  States  had  taken,  as  being  calcu- 
lated to  lead  to  civil  war.  How  to  avert  such  a  war 
now  that  the  action  had  been  taken  was  the  ques- 
tion. It  was  assumed  in  the  border  slave  states 
that  those  states,  occupying  as  they  did  a  position 
between  the  others,  both  geographically  and  po- 
litically, were  entitled  to  speak  with  some  author- 
ity as  pacificators,  and  that  it  belonged  to  them 
to  propose  some  compromise,  whereby  the  hostile 
sections  by  mutual  concessions  could  be  brought 
again  to  their  ancient  harmony.  Accordingly  Mr. 
Oittenden,  one  of  the  senators  from  Kentucky, 
took  the  lead  in  proposing  a  compromise ;  but  its 
concessions  were  not  such  as  to  satisfy  the  extreme 
South,  while  at  the  same  time  they  were  more  than 
the  North  would  consent  to  make.  When  this  re- 
sult became  certain,  a  peace  conference,  as  it  was 
called,  to  be  composed  of  commissioners  from  each 
22 


338  MICHIGAN. 

of  the  states,  was  invited  to  convene  in  Washing- 
ton in  February,  1861,  to  consider  and  if  possible 
agree  upon  and  report  to  Congress  some  plan  of 
compromise  and  conciliation,  by  the  adoption  of 
which  the  seceding  states  might  be  won  back  to 
the  Union.  What  was  desired  was  that  each  state 
would  send  its  most  eminent  and  conservative 
citizens  as  commissioners  ;  and  it  was  then  hoped 
that  tlieir  aggregate  wisdom  would  be  sufficient  to 
devise  a  plan  of  conciliation  and  harmony  adequate 
to  the  emergency,  and  that  the  influence  of  their 
united  counsel  would  secure  its  adoption. 

Certain  concessions  by  the  North  it  was  gen- 
erally supposed  would  be  absolutely  essential. 
Among  these  was  a  provision  by  constitutional 
amendment  for  the  more  effectual  return  of  fugi- 
tive slaves  escaping  to  Northern  States,  and  for 
payment  of  their  value  when  they  escaped  by  rea- 
son of  assistance  given  them.  But  one  of  more 
importance  was  that  the  territories  should  be  open 
to  settlement  by  slave  owners  with  their  slaves, 
and  that  all  power  in  Congress  to  legislate  against 
slavery  in  the  territories  should  be  taken  away  by 
express  constitutional  provision.  It  was  in  respect 
to  this  last  feature  of  the  proposed  concessions  that 
the  chief  difficulty  was  likely  to  be  encountered, 
for  it  was  a  concession  of  the  very  principle  on 
which  the  recent  election  had  been  won. 

Nevertheless  the  Union  was  in  peril,  and  twenty- 
two  states  sent  commissioners  to  the  conference. 


THE  STAND   TAKEN  BY  MICHIGAN.          339 

Michigan  by  the  deliberate  act  of  her  legislature 
refused  to  participate  in  it.  The  name  of  peace 
conference  seemed  to  the  people  of  the  State  a 
misnomer :  the  conference  was  to  be  held  under 
an  implied  threat  of  war  unless  one  section  of  the 
Union  surrendered  altogether  its  leading  political 
principle.  Mr.  Buchanan  in  his  annual  message 
had  declared  that  he  found  in  the  constitution  no 
authority  for  coercing  states  withdrawing  from  the 
Union,  but  his  conclusions  found  little  support  in 
Michigan.  Governor  Wisner,  who  had  just  left  the 
executive  chair,  had  said  in  retiring :  "  Michigan 
cannot  recognize  the  right  of  a  state  to  secede  from 
this  Union."  If  individuals,  whether  as  private 
citizens  or  as  officers,  attempted  to  take  their  state 
out  of  the  Union,  the  nation  must  deal  with  them, 
not  by  way  of  coercing  the  state,  but  to  compel 
individuals  to  obey  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  perform  national  obligations.  Austin  Blair, 
the  new  governor,  had  repeated  and  amplified  tlie 
sentiments  of  his  predecessor.  "  Safety  lies  in 
this  path  alone.  The  Union  must  be  preserved 
and  the  laws  must  be  enforced  in  all  parts  of  it  at 
whatever  cost.  .  .  .  Secession  is  revolution,  and 
revolution  in  the  overt  act  is  treason,  and  must  be 
treated  as  such."  These  utterances  expressed  the 
sentiments  of  the  State.  The  Union  had  not  been 
formed  on  any  understanding  that  it  might  be  dis- 
solved at  will  by  dissatisfied  parties,  and  to  con- 
cede the  right  would  be  destructive  of  all  its  ad- 


340  MICHIGAN. 

vantages.  If  constitutional  obligations  had  been 
violated  in  the  election  other  considerations  woVld 
be  presented,  but  the  voters  of  the  State  bad  done 
nothing  but  exercise  their  undoubted  right  in  tak- 
ing part  with  others  in  the  election  of  a  constitu- 
tional officer  in  a  perfectly  constitutional  way ; 
acting,  in  doing  so,  upon  matured  convictions  and 
according  to  the  dictates  of  their  consciences. 
They  therefore  had  nothing  in  their  action  to  re- 
gret, nothing  to  withdraw,  nothing  in  point  of 
principle  to  compromise  away.  They  were  at 
peace  now  without  the  aid  of  the  peace  conference, 
and  they  would  remain  at  peace  unless  war  should 
be  opened  upon  the  Union  of  which  the  State  was 
a  part ;  and  if  war  should  thus  come,  all  the  grand 
results  which  had  been  anticipated  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Union  and  which  so  far  had  been  re- 
alized would  be  at  stake,  and  nothing  would  re- 
main but  to  put  forth  such  effort  to  save  the  Union 
as  might  be  within  the  compass  of  state  power 
and  resources.  Such  were  the  views  which  found 
expression  at  Washington  through  the  representa- 
tives of  the  State  in  Congress.  Senator  Chandler 
in  a  speech  in  the  Senate  said :  "  The  people  of 
Michigan  are  opposed  to  all  compromises.  They 
do  not  believe  that  any  compromise  is  necessary ; 
nor  do  I.  They  are  prepared  to  stand  by  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  as  it  is  ;  to  stand  by 
the  government  as  it  is ;  to  stand  by  it  to  blood  if 
necessary."  And  a  little  later  he  said  it  would 


THE   UPRISING  AFTER  SUMTER.  341 

be  more  reasonable  to  join  .a  tribe  of  savages  than 
to  live  under  a  government  that  had  not  power  to 
enforce  its  laws. 

The  peace  conference  was  abortive,  and  on  Fri- 
day, April  12,  1861,  war  upon  the  Union  was  inau- 
gurated by  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter.  On  the 
following  Sunday  the  officer  in  command  lowered 
h:s  flag  in  surrender,  and  the  captors  marched  in 
with  rejoicings  as  for  a  great  victory.  The  victory 
was  a  fatal  one  for  slavery ;  any  earnest  and  pro- 
longed contest  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union 
necessarily  involved  the  existence  of  that  institu- 
tion. It  also  necessarily  referred  to  the  arbitra- 
ment of  war  the  dogma  of  the  right  of  states  to 
secede  from  the  Union.  On  the  same  Sunday 
that  Sumter  was  evacuated,  the  people  of  Michigan 
in  their  several  localities  were  gathering  after 
church  services,  in  parks  and  other  public  places, 
to  counsel  together  respecting  the  alarming  crisis 
that  was  now  upon  them,  and  to  prepare  for  the  re- 
sponsibilities which  were  involved  in  a  struggle  for 
national  existence.  The  most  eminent  and  trusted 
citizen  was  in  every  place  the  speaker.  At  Ann 
Arbor,  the  seat  of  the  state  university,  Dr.  Henry 
P.  Tappan,  its  eminent  and  respected  president, 
addressed  the  assembled  people,  impressing  upon 
them  with  great  force  and  earnestness  the  neces- 
sity of  the  Union  to  the  peace,  prosperity,  and 
happiness  of  the  people  of  all  the  states,  and  the 
duty  of  every  citizen  to  defend  it  at  any  necessary 


842  MICHIGAN. 

sacrifice.  Slavery  as  the  occasion  of  the  war  was 
rarely  alluded  to  in  these  meetings ;  the  issues  of 
the  opening  contest  rose  far  above  any  question  of 
domestic  policy,  constitutional  law,  or  party  poli- 
tics. 

When  Sumter  surrendered,  Lewis  Cass,  who  in 
the  cabinet  of  President  Buchanan  had  done  all 
that  was  in  his  power  to  hold  every  state  to  its 
place  in  the  Union,  was  living  in  retirement  at 
Detroit.  A  great  public  meeting  was  convened 
in  that  city  on  one  of  the  dark  days  which  fol- 
lowed, and  he  was  called  upon  as  its  most  distin- 
guished citizen  to  preside.  Naturally  his  mind 
reverted  to  the  day,  nearly  fifty  years  before,  when 
near  the  very  spot  where  the  meeting  was  being 
held,  an  American  general,  who  had  lost  the  cour- 
age and  vigor  of  his  youth,  had  subjected  the  peo- 
ple to  dishonorable  capitulation.  The  venerable 
statesman  was  himself  now  old  and  feeble;  youth- 
ful ardor  had  given  way  to  some  degree  of  de- 
spondency ;  but  he  had  lost  nothing  of  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Union,  and  he  thanked  God  as  he 
took  the  chairman's  seat  that  the  flag  of  the  Union 
still  floated  unmutilated  above  him.  His  remarks 
were  brief,  but  they  expressed  the  general  senti- 
ment and  determination  of  the  people  of  the  city 
and  of  the  State.  "  It  is  the  duty  of  all  zealously 
to  support  the  government  in  its  efforts  to  bring 
this  unhappy  civil  war  to  a  speedy  and  satisfactory 
conclusion,  by  the  restoration  in  its  integrity  of 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE    WAR.  343 

that  great  charter  of  freedom  bequeathed  to  us  by 
Washington  and  his  compatriots."  The  address 
was  brief  but  significant,  and  there  was  inspiration 
for  others  in  the  fact  that  the  venerable  statesman 
did  not  tolerate  the  thought  of  a  divided  country. 
The  history  of  Michigan  in  the  war  is  part  of 
the  general  history  of  the  country,  and  nothing 
need  be  said  of  it  here  but  that  the  State  did  its 
full  duty,  putting  more  than  ninety  thousand  men 
into  the  field,  of  whom  many  thousand  were  left 
to  rest  in  soldiers'  graves.  The  four  years'  war  was 
unsettling  and  demoralizing,  as  all  wars  necessa- 
rily are,  and  its  effects  were  perceived  in  a  spec- 
ulating feeling  in  business  circles  which  gradually 
extended  so  as  to  bring  within  its  mischievous  vor- 
tex classes  of  persons  who  had  never  ventured  be- 
fore. They  were  perceived  also  in  a  weakening 
of  the  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  life  and  of  private 
property ;  and  in  some  degree  of  the  family  senti- 
ment also  ;  and  in  a  great  increase  of  crimes  of 
all  sorts,  but  especially  of  crimes  of  violence.  No- 
where in  the  Union  were  the  rejoicings  more 
hearty  when  the  news  came  that  Richmond  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  federal  authorities,  and  that 
the  preservation  of  the  Union  was  made  certain. 
A  task  which  had  seemed  to  other  nations  too 
desperate  to  be  undertaken  had  been  accomplished, 
and  in  the  process  of  accomplishment  the  great 
domestic  evil  that  had  been  the  occasion  of  the 
war  had  been  overthrown  completely  and  forever. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE  STATE  AND  THE  NEW  UNION. 

THE  great  civil  war  had  been  fought  on  the  part 
of  the  government  to  preserve  the  Union,  an4  for 
no  ulterior  purpose  whatever.  "  The  constitution 
as  it  is  and  the  Union  as  it  was  "  was  the  rallying 
cry  of  the  people,  and  the  platform  upon  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  inaugural  address  proposed  to 
found  the  policy  of  his  administration.  The  acts 
of  secession  being  deemed  altogether  void,  the  gov- 
ernment would  endeavor  to  hold,  occupy,  and  pos- 
sess the  property  and  places  belonging  to  it  in  all 
the  states,  and  to  enforce  everywhere  its  laws,  and 
thereby  bring  the  people  everywhere  to  a  recog- 
nition and  observance  of  federal  authority  and  of 
their  duties  in  respect  to  it.  The  political  depart- 
ments of  the  federal  government  disclaimed  alto- 
gether the  right  to  interfere  with  any  constitu- 
tional exercise  of  state  authority,  even  in  respect 
to  the  institution  of  slavery,  though  slavery  had 
become  the  occasion  of  civil  war.  Loyal  parties, 
whatever  had  been  their  political  affiliations  be- 
fore, agreed  in  pledging  devotion  to  the  constitu- 
tion as  it  had  been  formulated  and  adopted  at  the 


VALUE  OF  A    WRITTEN  CONSTITUTION.      345 

beginning,  and  their  purpose  to  maintain  it  unim- 
paired. 

The  peculiar  excellence  of  the  American  con- 
stitutions was  supposed  to  consist  in  the  fact  that 
they  liad  been  deliberately  framed  as  written  char- 
ters of  government,  so  that  they  expressed  all  that 
was  within  the  intent  of  the  framers,  and  would 
stand  as  agreed  upon  without  being  subject  to  that 
gradual  modification  and  change  which  is  an  in- 
herent quality  when  the  constitution  is  unwritten. 
In  the  latter  case,  as  in  the  conspicuous  instance 
of  the  constitution  of  England,  there  will  be  grad- 
ual building  up  and  growth,  which  may  at  the 
time  be  wholly  imperceptible,  and  only  apparent 
in  results  ;  but  the  written  instrument  comes  into 
existence  with  the  understanding  and  purpose  that 
its  several  paragraphs  and  provisions  shall  mean 
forever  exactly  what  they  mean  when  adopted  ; 
and  if  a  change  is  to  take  place  in  the  constitution, 
it  must  be  brought  about  by  the  steps  which  in 
the  instrument  itself  are  provided  for,  and  must 
consist  in  such  modification  of  the  language  and 
provisions  of  the  instrument,  or  of  such  emenda- 
tions or  additions  as  shall  be  formally  and  deliber- 
ately made.  By  this  means  we  are  supposed  to 
have  at  all  times  a  written  instrument  which  em- 
bodies the  whole  constitution  ;  and  when  we  reach 
a  proper  interpretation  of  the  powers  it  confers 
and  the  limitations  it  imposes  upon  those  powers, 
as  they  stood  in  the  minds  of  the  people  when 


846  MICHIGAN. 

adopting  it,  we  are  to  give  effect  to  that  interpre- 
tation, in  whatever  may  be  done  under  the  con- 
stitution at  any  time  in  the  future. 

Such  is  the  theory  underlying  American  govern- 
ments. But  the  theory  can  be  true  only  in  the 
most  general  sense.  No  instrument  can  be  the 
same  in  meaning  to-day  and  forever,  and  in  all 
men's  minds.  Its  interpretation  must  take  place 
in  the  light  of  the  facts  which  preceded  and  led 
to  it;  in  the  light  of  contemporaneous  history, 
and  of  what  was  said  by  the  actors  and  the  ends 
they  had  in  view.  And  as  men  will  differ  upon 
facts  and  differ  in  mental  constitution,  so  will 
they  differ  in  interpretation  ;  and  in  the  case  of  a 
written  constitution,  the  divergences  are  certain 
to  increase  when  it  comes  to  receive  practical 
application.  And  if  at  any  time  the  people  are 
subjected  to  a  great  constitutional  crisis,  they  are 
not  thereafter  precisely  the  same  in  ideas,  sen- 
timents, desires,  hopes,  and  aspirations  that  they 
were  before :  their  experience  works  changes  in 
their  views  and  in  their  habits  of  thought,  and 
these  may  be  so  radical  that  they  seem  altogether 
a  new  people.  But  as  the  people  change,  so  does 
their  written  constitution  change  also :  they  see 
it  in  new  lights  and  with  different  eyes  ;  events 
may  have  given  unexpected  illumination  to  some 
of  its  provisions,  and  what  they  read  one  way  be- 
fore they  read  a  very  different  way  now.  Then 
the  logic  of  events  may  for  all  practical  purposes 


SCHOOLS  OF  INTERPRETATION.  347 

have  settled  some  questions  before  in  dispute  ;  and 
nobody,  in  his  contemplation  of  the  constitution, 
can  separate  it  if  he  would  from  the  history  in 
which  its  important  provisions  have  had  a  part, 
or  be  unaffected  in  his  own  views  by  that  history. 
In  constitutional  countries  there  must  be  schools 
of  interpretation  and  construction,  in  which  men 
will  range  themselves  according  to  the  spirit  and 
intent  which  they  respectively  discover  in  the  char- 
ter of  government.  In  the  United  States  these 
have  existed  from  the  first;  and  they  have  been 
given  the  names  of  Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  because 
those  great  statesmen,  when  called  to  the  perform- 
ance of  important  functions  in  government  which 
involved  a  construction  of  the  constitution,  discov- 
ered respectively  a  different  spirit  and  tendency 
in  that  instrument.  Hamilton  discovered  in  it  a 
purpose  to  create  and  give  vigorous  energy  to  a 
great  nation  ;  and  in  so  far  as  the  administration 
of  the  government  fell  to  him,  he  deemed  it  his 
duty  to  give  effect  to  this  purpose.  He  was  the 
ablest  man  of  the  day  holding  these  views  ;  and 
being  eminently  endowed  with  the  qualities  of  a 
leader,  he  became  the  natural  head  of  the  great 
national  party.  Jefferson  read  in  the  constitution 
a  purpose  to  preserve  the  states  in  their  integrity 
with  all  their  powers,  so  far  as  was  consistent  with 
the  existence  of  a  confederacy  having  such  author- 
ity as  a  strict  construction  of  the  constitution 
would  give  it.  He  also  was  a  natural  leader  of 


348  MICHIGAN. 

men,  and  became  the  head  of  the  state -rights 
school  in  constitutional  interpretation.  Holding 
such  antagonistic  views,  it  was  natural  and  perhaps 
inevitable  that  these  great  leaders  should  suspect 
each  other's  motives  and  actions ;  and  that  while 
Hamilton  should  come  to  think  it  was  the  pur- 
pose of  Jefferson  to  set  the  states  above  the  na- 
tion to  the  destruction  of  effective  unity,  Jefferson 
on  the  other  hand  should  believe  that  his  great 
rival  was  endeavoring  to  do  whatever  should-*be 
possible,  in  perverting  the  constitution  to  a  con- 
centration of  power  in  the  federal  government 
which  the  states  had  never  agreed  upon,  and  which 
if  deliberately  proposed  would  never  have  had 
their  assent.  From  them  the  mutual  suspicions 
extended  to  their  friends  and  followers;  and  their 
several  public  measures  were  regarded  with  jeal- 
ous eyes  as  having  purposes  in  view  which  their 
authors  would  not  venture  to  avow.  The  funding 
schemes  of  Hamilton  for  federal  and  state  debts 
were  not,  in  the  eyes  of  Jefferson,  so  much  vicious 
in  themselves,  as  vicious  in  their  purpose  and  ten- 
dency to  concentrate  power  and  rob  the  states  of 
their  due  importance ;  and  when,  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  John  Adams,  affairs  with  France 
assumed  a  threatening  aspect,  other  persons  be- 
sides Jefferson  were  ready  to  suspect  that  Hamil- 
ton was  willing  war  should  result,  not  so  much  be- 
cause the  conduct  of  France  seemed  imperatively 
to  require  it,  as  because  he  expected  from  the 


STATE  SOVEREIGNTY  AND  NATIONAL    UNITY.    349 

necessary  concentration  of  power  and  expenditure 
in  the  general  government,  as  a  result  of  war,  a 
great  extension  of  its  relative  importance. 

The  war  of  1812  was  attended  by  some  peculiar 
circumstances,  which  had  the  effect  to  neutralize 
tendencies  that  might  otherwise  have  appeared. 
The  administration  of  the  government  was  at  the 
time  in  the  hands  of  the  state-rights  party  ;  and 
its  avowed  principles  would  restrain  it  from  tak- 
ing centralizing  ground.  A  much  more  important 
circumstance  was  that  some  of  the  most  influential 
states  were  in  control  of  the  party  which  had  op- 
posed the  war,  and  the  general  government  was 
from  that  cause  hampered  and  weakened  through 
the  whole  of  it.  But  afterwards  and  long  before 
the  great  crisis  of  1860,  the  construction  of  the 
constitution  in  its  leading  features  had  been  de- 
termined by  successive  decisions  of  the  federal 
Supreme  Court  in  accordance  with  the  views  held 
by  the  school  of  Hamilton.  The  views  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  had  also  in  a  measure  become  discredited 
with  the  people,  mainly  through  the  nullification 
episode  and  the  patriotic  fervor  at  that  time  in- 
spired in  defense  of  federal  authority.  But  as 
the  legislative  and  executive  departments  of  the 
government  had  generally  been  in  the  hands  of 
the  party  most  strenuous  for  the  preservation  to 
the  states  of  all  their  powers  and  rights,  the  ten- 
dency to  centralization  was  kept  perhaps  as  much 
in  check  as  in  the  nature  of  things  was  possible. 


850  MICHIGAN. 

State  sovereignty  and  national  unity  was  a  favorite 
phrase  which  was  supposed  to  be  a  terse  expres- 
sion of  the  leading  ideas  and  purposes  of  this  party 
in  government.  If  a  doubt  at  any  time  arose  re- 
specting the  relative  province  of  state  and  nation, 
the  principles  of  this  party  afforded  an  easy  and 
simple  test  for  its  solution  ;  for  presumptively  all 
power  was  in  the  state  until  it  could  be  shown 
how  and  in  what  provision  of  the  constitution  it 
had  been  given  to  the  Union. 

The  change  when  the  great  civil  war  came  on 
was  very  great.  The  revolution  of  parties  would 
account  for  some  of  this  ;  for  the  party  which  had 
succeeded  in  the  recent  presidential  election  was 
for  the  most  part  of  the  school  of  Hamilton.  Jef- 
ferson had  now  been  further  discredited  by  the 
fact  that  those  who  were  endeavoring  to  disrupt 
the  Union  claimed  to  be  his  followers  and  disciples, 
and  quoted  papers  prepared  by  his  hand  in  justifi- 
cation of  their  disintegrating  doctrines.  And  it 
was  easy  to  do  this  ;  for  under  the  strain  of  intense 
political  feeling,  when  the  federal  government  was 
adopting  legislation  of  the  most  questionable  char- 
acter, and  which  he  believed  was  not  only  unwar- 
ranted by  the  constitution  but  subversive  of  lib- 
erty, he  had  secretly  formulated  for  his  followers 
the  famous  resolutions  of  '98  and  '99,  which 
seemed  on  their  face  to  contain  the  germ  of  nulli- 
fication if  not  of  secession.  But  the  Abolitionists 
might,  with  quite  as  much  reason,  have  claimed 


SUBORDINATION  OF  STATE  RIGHTS.  351 

him  as  their  prototype  and  leader  ;  for  his  condem- 
nation of  slavery  had  been  planted  on  the  highest 
ground  of  morality  and  natural  justice,  and  he  had 
been  prompt  to  legislate  for  freedom  on  the  very 
first  opportunity.  Nevertheless,  Jefferson  for  the 
time  being  was  discredited  in  the  public  mind, 
and  the  correctness  of  Hamilton's  views  of  gov- 
ernment was  thought  to  be  demonstrated  by  the 
attempt  at  secession,  and  by  the  need  of  extraordi- 
nary powers  in  the  government  to  prevent  it.  It 
seemed  to  be  the  duty  of  patriotic  citizens  to 
strengthen  the  federal  government  in  every  pos- 
sible way,  and  remonstrances  from  any  quarter, 
however  well  they  might  be  grounded  in  constitu- 
tional law,  and  however  honest  their  purpose,  were 
listened  to  with  impatience.  The  party  of  seces- 
sion had  claimed  to  found  their  dogmas  upon  con- 
stitutional state  rights,  and  to  represent  such 
rights  in  their  rebellion  ;  therefore,  as  the  war  pro- 
gressed with  its  intense  excitements  and  varying 
phases,  the  very  term  "  state  rights  "  became  ob- 
noxious to  patriotic  ears  as  one  which  represented 
principles  and  interests  standing  in  antagonism  to 
the  tremendous  national  interests,  in  defense  of 
which  the  people  were  now  so  freely  expending 
blood  and  treasure. 

Under  the  influence  of  sentiments  like  these, 
many  clear  infractions  of  the  constitution  were 
excused  by  the  public  as  being  justified  by  an 
overruling  necessity ;  such,  for  example,  as  the  in- 


352  MICHIGAN. 

terference  by  federal  forces  with  state  elections 
in  Kentucky.  The  longer  the  war  continued  ami 
the  more  numerous  were  the  excesses  of  power, 
the  more  they  came  to  seem  in  the  minds  of  many 
persons  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  a 
constitution  which  was  designed  to  insure  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Union,  and  might  therefore  be  sup- 
posed to  contemplate  the  doing  of  whatever  was 
essential  to  that  end.  "  We  break  the  constitution 
that  we  may  save  it,"  was  sometimes  said :  a  par- 
adox, the  mischief  of  which  was  not  universally 
perceived  until  calmer  times  brought  cooler  heads. 
It  was  the  opposite  view  —  that  the  constitution 
might  be  appealed  to  for  protection  even  by  those 
who  were  seeking  to  destroy  it  —  that  seemed  at 
the  time  preposterous.  When,  therefore,  men  were 
tried  and  condemned  for  treasonable  practices  be- 
fore military  tribunals  in  Indiana,  the  proceedings 
were  approved  by  a  prevailing  contemporary  sen- 
timent, which  held  that  the  protections  to  liberty 
incorporated  in  the  constitution  were  subject  to 
an  implied  exception,  and  might  rightfully  be  set 
aside  when  great  emergencies  required  it. 

Many  such  things  are  inseparable  from  a  state 
of  civil  war ;  and  they  are  recorded  afterwards 
not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  fixing  the  respon- 
sibility for  them  upon  individuals,  as  to  guard 
against  their  being  accepted  as  lawful,  and  thereby 
leading  to  mischief  in  the  future.  But  in  this 
connection  they  are  to  be  noted  also  as  accounting 


CENTRALIZING  INFLUENCES.  353 

in  some  degree  for  the  rapid  strengthening  of 
federal  power  while  the  war  was  in  progress.  A 
violation  of  the  constitution,  even  when  disap- 
proved by  public  sentiment  so  that  it  fails  to  be- 
come a  precedent,  may  nevertheless  have  impor- 
tant influence  upon  the  public  mind,  in  accustoming 
it  to  accept  as  quite  in  order  other  questionable 
acts  which  before  would  have  been  promptly  con- 
demned. A  wholly  baseless  claim  vigorously  in- 
sisted upon,  especially  when  the  power  of  present 
enforcement  exists,  may  be  as  likely  in  public 
affairs  as  in  private  business  to  lead  to  compromise 
by  concession  of  some  part  of  what  is  claimed. 

But  the  centralizing  forces  which  raised  no  ques- 
tion of  constitutional  right  or  authority  were  now 
powerful.  The  government  was  making  vast  mili- 
tary expenditures;  it  was  giving  out  enormous 
contracts  in  which  the  profits  might  be  large,  and 
the  birds  of  ill  omen  gathered  about  the  depart- 
ments in  great  flocks,  as  eager  for  their  feasts  and 
as  reckless  of  anything  else  as  the  vultures  upon 
the  fields  of  battle.  The  government  was  all  the 
while  drawing  in  and  paying  out  large  sums  of 
money ;  and  the  financial  currents  were  to  and 
from  Washington,  not  to  or  from  the  state  capi- 
tals except  as  the  states  were  acting  as  subordi- 
nate auxiliaries  in  the  war.  With  a  new  admin- 
istration, according  to  the  vicious  custom  still 
prevalent,  came  an  expectation  of  an  entire  change 
in  the  civil  force;  and  from  every  part  of  the 

23 


854  MICHIGAN. 

country  men  flocked  to  Washington  demanding 
recognition  of  political  claims,  and  forgot  the  im- 
pending peril  of  their  country  in  their  eagerness 
to  turn  others  out  of  office  and  obtain  their  places. 
Many  new  offices  were  now  necessarily  created ; 
and  for  the  time  being  the  national  government 
was  the  great  dispenser  of  favors,  privileges,  valu- 
able employments,  and  profitable  contracts,  whose 
executive,  by  a  dash  of  the  pen,  was  giving  offices 
which  gratified  the  ambition  of  a  life-time,  wirile 
heads  of  departments  by  their  favors  were  enabling 
others  to  lay  the  foundation  of  enormous  fortunes. 
All  these  things  not  only  for  the  time  affected  the 
relative  interest  of  the  people  in  their  state  and 
national  governments,  but  they  greatly  and  perma- 
nently affected  the  imaginations  of  the  people ; 
diminishing  the  states  and  their  rights  and  powers 
relatively  to  the  Union,  and  making  them  appear 
in  a  constitutional  point  of  view  less  and  less  like 
sovereignties,  and  more  and  more  like  subordinate 
sections  of  a  state.  It  was  also  natural  while  this 
process  was  going  on,  and  while  the  needs  of  the 
government  and  the  demands  upon  its  strength 
were  so  great,  that  the  people  should  come  to  look 
upon  the  constitution  as  an  instrument  which  a 
just  regard  to  its  purpose  required  should  be  liber- 
ally construed,  in  order  that  it  might  accomplish 
the  ends  for  which  it  was  established,  and  that  it 
should  no  longer  be  looked  upon  as  an  instrument 
in  which  the  grants  of  power  to  the  federal  govern- 


SLAVERY  AND   THE  CENTRAL   GOVERNMENT.    355 

ment  must  be  found  expressed ;  as  even  Marshall, 
the  great  expounder  of  the  preceding  generation, 
hud  conceded  was  the  case.  The  attempt  of  states 
to  break  up  the  Union  had  put  everything  at  stake 
in  a  life  and  death  struggle  on  the  battle-field. 
For  all  these  reasons  a  rapid  and  very  radical 
change  was  going  on  in  respect  to  the  view  to 
be  taken  of  the  constitution  ;  so  that  even  when 
the  letter  remained  unchanged,  the  change  in  spirit 
and  practical  expression  made  it  almost  a  new  in- 
strument. 

Nothing  in  this  regard  affected  the  imaginations 
of  the  people  more  than  the  destruction  of  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery  in  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  Union  by  executive  proclamation  enforced  by 
the  army.  It  had  been  from  the  first  agreed  by  all 
schools  of  constitutional  construction  that  the  fed- 
eral government  had  no  power  over  the  institution 
of  slavery  in  the  states,  except  in  the  matter  of 
the  reclamation  of  fugitives,  or  perhaps  as  slaves 
became  the  subject  of  interstate  commerce.  The 
states,  by  the  constitution,  had  been  left  to  regulate 
their  own  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way ; 
that  of  master  and  servant  as  much  as  that  of  mar- 
riage. But  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams  had  advanced 
the  idea,  which  at  the  time  appeared  to  most  per- 
sons unworthy  a  moment's  serious  thought,  that 
the  fact  would  be  otherwise  in  time  of  war ;  for 
the  general  government  might  then  deal  with  slav- 
ery as  any  existing  emergency  might  seem  to  re- 


356  MICHIGAN. 

quire.  The  people  of  the  United  States  would 
have  scouted  this  notion  even  at  the  time  of  the 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  and  the  most  of  them 
for  a  year  thereafter.  The  conservative  portion  of 
the  people,  including  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  showed 
a  readiness  to  avoid  as  far  as  possible  anything 
which  could  injure  the  institution  of  slavery,  and 
even  the  army  was  for  a  time  to  some  extent  made 
use  of  for  sustaining  it.  But  the  time  speedily 
came  when  it  seemed  that  it  might  become  B«ces- 
sary  to  choose  between  slavery  and  the  Union  ;  and 
with  the  supreme  purpose  in  view  to  save  the 
Union,  the  effect  upon  slavery  began  to  be  dis- 
cussed chiefly  in  its  bearings  upon  the  accomplish- 
ment of  that  purpose.  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  open 
letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  written  in  August,  1862, 
put  in  a  few  epigrammatic  sentences  his  policy 
and  purpose  at  that  time. 

"I  would,"  he  said,  "save  the  Union.  I  would 
save  it  in  the  shortest  way  under  the  constitution. 
The  sooner  the  national  authority  can  be  restored, 
the  sooner  the  Union  will  be  *  the  Union  as  it 
was.'  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the 
Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  save 
slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  If  there  be 
those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they 
could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not 
agree  with  them.  My  paramount  object  is  to  save 
the  Union,  and  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slav- 
ery. If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing 


CONGRESS  AND   THE  CURRENCY.  357 

any  slave  I  would  do  it ;  if  I  could  save  it  by  free- 
ing all  the  slaves  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could 
save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone, 
I  would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about  slavery 
and  the  colored  race  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps 
to  save  this  Union  ;  and  what  I  forbear  I  forbear 
because  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the 
Union.  I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe 
what  I  am  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do 
more  whenever  I  believe  doing  more  will  help  the 
cause.  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown 
to  be  errors,  and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast 
as  they  shall  appear  to  be  true  views." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  question  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  mind,  how  slavery  should  be  dealt  with, 
had  become  one  of  mere  expediency  ;  and  when 
he  decided,  as  he  shortly  did,  that  the  destruction 
of  slavery  would  conduce  to  the  restoration  of  the 
Union,  he  gave  the  fatal  blow.  It  may  have  been 
an  act  of  questionable  constitutional  right,  but  it 
\vas  irreversible  when  done,  and  it  went  a  long 
way  in  strengthening  the  growing  impression  that 
in  time  of  war  whatever  in  government  is  found 
expedient  must  be  legally  admissible. 

Then  Congress  undertook  —  what  it  had  never 
attempted  before  —  to  provide  the  whole  currency 
of  the  country.  It  had  power  by  the  constitution 
to  coin  money ;  but  coin  had  always  constituted 
a  small  percentage  of  the  whole  currency,  the 
most  of  which  had  been  the  bills  of  state  banks. 


858  MICHIGAN. 

Twice  a  national  bank  had  been  chai-tered  as  an 
expedient  agency  in  government,  but  the  consti- 
tutional power  had  always  been  contested,  and, 
though  affirmed  by  the  judicial,  had  been  denied 
at  last  by  the  political  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment under  the  lead  of  Jackson,  and  the  judg- 
ment of  the  people  might  be  said  to  stand  recorded 
against  the  judgment  of  the  court.  But  now  Con- 
gress assumed  to  give  corporate  powers  not  to  one 
national  bank  merely,  but  to  banks  in  every  Bar- 
ter of  the  country,  sufficient  in  number  for  all  the 
demands  of  business ;  and  the  question  of  power 
to  do  so  was  scarcely  made  in  any  quarter.  Con- 
gress did  not  stop  at  authorizing  national  banks  ; 
it  undertook  to  destroy  the  state  banks  to  make 
place  for  them.  It  was  not  claimed  or  pretended 
by  any  one  that  this  might  be  done  directly  and 
avowedly ;  for  state  power  to  create  banks  of 
issue  was  unquestionable,  and  what  the  states  had 
lawful  power  to  create,  Congress  could  not  have 
lawful  power  to  destroy.  If  the  state  banks  were 
destroyed  it  must  therefore  be  done  by  indirection  ; 
the  purpose  must  not  be  avowed  even  though  it 
might  be  evident  and  palpable.  Chief  Justice 
Marshall  had  said,  in  overruling  state  taxation  of 
the  national  bank,  that  "  a  power  to  tax  is  a  power 
to  destroy ; "  meaning  and  intending  by  this  epi- 
grammatic phrase,  that  the  power  to  raise  a  rev- 
enue from  a  subject  might  require  to  be  exercised 
over  and  over  again  to  the  degree  of  absolute  ex- 


PROHIBITION   UNDER  GUISE  OF  TAXATION.    359 

haustion.  But  Congress  availed  itself  of  the  ex- 
pression, and  by  its  action  said  in  substance,  "  We 
desire  to  destroy  state  banks  of  issue  ;  we  have  the 
power  to  tax  them  and  we  will  put  forth  that  power 
for  their  destruction.  We  will  impose  upon  their 
circulation  a  burden  under  the  name  of  tax  which 
it  will  be  impossible  for  it  to  bear,  and  thus  compel 
withdrawal."  The  obvious  comment  upon  this 
is,  that  the  power  to  tax  is  a  power  to  raise  rev- 
enue, existing  in  government  for  that  purpose 
and  for  no  other;  and  this  legislation  was  not 
adopted  for  purposes  of  revenue,  for  no  revenue 
was  expected  or  desired  from  it.  The  law,  there- 
fore, was  not  a  tax  law,  but  in  its  essence  it  was  a 
law  prohibiting  under  penalty  the  issue  of  bills  by 
state  banks.  The  legislation  was  made  to  assume 
the  form  and  take  the  name  of  taxation,  because 
under  its  true  name  its  adoption  would  confessedly 
have  been  incompetent.  A  further  very  obvious 
comment  is,  that  if  one  class  of  state  corpora- 
tions may  constitutionally  be  thus  legislated  out 
of  existence  by  Congress,  that  body  must  have  the 
like  power  to  destroy  at  pleasure  other  state  cor- 
porations ;  and  it  might  perhaps,  on  some  view  of 
national  expediency,  tax  out  of  existence  all  cor- 
porations for  insurance  purposes  except  such  as 
Congress  itself  might  charter  for  the  District  of 
Columbia  and  other  territories  and  places  within 
its  exclusive  jurisdiction  ;  thus  taking  to  itself 
this  whole  subject  as  completely  as  if  control  over 


860  MICHIGAN. 

it  had  been  expressly  conferred.  This  would  be 
making  the  power  given  to  Congress  for  the  pur- 
poses of  revenue  a  power  of  destruction  irrespec- 
tive of  revenue.  But  the  tendencies  of  the  times 
w-T6  such  that  the  legislation  was  sustained  with 
little  question  and  less  opposition.  The  feeling 
was  general  that  the  country  was  well  rid  of  state 
bank  bills  which  in  times  past  had  been  infinitely 
mischievous,  and  nobody  troubled  himself  with 
the  question  whether  a  dangerous  precedent^  was 
not  being  established  in  the  process  of  getting  rid 
of  them. 

The  government  also  issued  bills  of  its  own, 
and  declared  that  they  should  be  legal  tender  as 
between  individuals  ;  not  merely  for  such  debts  as 
should  be  thereafter  contracted,  but  for  preexist- 
ing debts  contracted  when  gold  and  silver  alone 
were  legal  tender.  Then  came  the  question, 
Whence  did  the  government  derive  the  power  to 
give  this  effect  to  the  evidences  of  its  own  indebt- 
edness? It  is  not  to  be  found  expressly  con- 
ferred by  the  constitution  :  there  is  nothing  in  the 
debates  of  the  convention  which  framed  that  in- 
strument indicating  a  purpose  to  confer  it.  Leg- 
islators and  lawyers  looking  for  it  in  the  constitu- 
tion suggest  that  it  may  be  referred  to  the  power 
to  borrow  money,  or  the  power  to  coin  money,  or 
to  some  other  specified  power ;  but  at  any  rate  it 
may  be.  referred  to  the  war  power,  which  is  so 
tremendous  in  its  scope  that  those  wielding  it  can 


JURISDICTION  OF  FEDERAL   COURTS.        361 

alone  set  bounds  to  it.  If  in  their  opinion  the  is- 
sue of  legal  tender  currency  is  a  necessary  expedi- 
ent when  war  puts  the  existence  of  the  Union  in 
peril,  then  the  issue  must  be  as  lawful  as  the  em- 
ployment of  men  or  artillery  in  the  field.  Such 
was  the  reasoning  of  many  at  the  time.  But  when 
it  is  once  determined  that  the  power  of  Congress 
may  be  grounded  in  necessity,  it  logically  follows 
that  it  cannot  be  limited  to  the  time  of  war.  The 
necessity  that  makes  for  itself  the  law,  knows  no 
times ;  it  is  conceivable  that  it  may  be  slight  in 
time  of  war  and  urgent  in  time  of  peace  ;  and 
when  the  groundwork  of  right  is  admitted,  the 
power  which  passes  upon  the  necessity  cannot  be 
restricted  in  the  occasions.  And  necessity  under 
such  circumstances  can  mean  only  expediency. 
We  thus  reach  a  stage  when  Congress  on  its  own 
view  of  expediency  may  exercise  the  tremendous 
power  over  contracts,  of  making  them  payable  in 
something  besides  the  money  which  the  parties 
understood  they  were  bargaining  for:  something 
which  may  or  may  not  be  of  equal  value  ;  though 
if  it  were  of  equivalent  value,  there  could  in  gen- 
eral be  no  occasion  for  imparting  to  it  the  legal 
tender  quality. 

The  nation  also  during  the  war  began  to  extend 
in  various  directions  the  jurisdiction  of  the  federal 
courts.  To  some  extent  this  was  made  necessary 
by  the  confiscation  acts  and  the  great  increase  in 
the  revenue  system ;  but  much  of  the  legislation 


362  MICHIGAN. 

for  the  transfer  of  cases  from  state  to  federal 
courts  was  based  on  reasoning  which  was  only 
plausible  ;  and  it  was  as  often  adopted  for  the 
purpose  of  increasing  the  number  of  courts  and 
making  desirable  places  to  be  filled  by  federal  ap- 
pointment as  for  any  other  reason.  One  of  the 
immediate  and  necessary  consequences  was  to  cast 
upon  the  federal  Supreme  Court  an  amount  of 
business  quite  beyond  its  power  to  deal  with,  to 
the  great  detriment  of  suitors  and  of  the  country. 
Lawyers  and  legislators  now  busy  themselves  with 
the  problem  how  to  relieve  the  court  of  last  resort, 
and  various  plans  are  suggested  every  one  of  which 
its  opponents  can  show  has  fatal  defects ;  but  the 
easy,  simple,  and  effectual  plan  of  retracing  all 
steps  which  were  improvidently  taken,  and  all 
steps  for  which  the  reasons  have  now  passed  away, 
is  suggested  by  no  one. 

But  tli at  which  perhaps  at  the  time  seemed 
most  of  all  to  belittle  the  states  and  to  swell  to 
greatest  proportions  the  central  power,  was  the 
process  of  reconstruction  of  states  which  began 
with  Virginia,  soon  after  the  war  opened,  and  was 
continued  for  several  years.  The  theory  of  the 
government  at  all  times  was  that  the  seceding 
states  were  never  out  of  the  Union  :  their  constitu- 
tions and  laws  remained  notwithstanding  seces- 
sion ;  and  what  was  needed  was  that  the  people 
should  be  brought  back  to  the  performance  of  na- 
tional duties.  But  in  bringing  them  back  they 


THE  TARIFF  A  PROTECTIVE   ONE.  363 

were  for  a  time  subjected  to  military  rule,  and 
terms  were  dictated  as  conditions  to  their  read- 
mission  to  their  places  in  the  Union.  The  most 
important  of  these  conditions  were  the  distinct 
negation  of  slavery  and  the  elevation  of  the  freed- 
men  to  the  dignity  of  citizens  and  voters.  Giving 
the  elective  franchise  to  the  freedmen  was  a  great 
and  confessedly  a  hazardous  experiment,  and  few 
if  any  of  the  states  woitld  willingly  have  consented 
to  it ;  but  the  country  was  supposed  to  be  still  in 
the  grasp  of  an  imperious  necessity,  and  the  states 
had  no  choice  but  to  accept  the  terms.  The  blacks 
had  been  freed,  and  now  they  must  be  protected  ; 
and  the  best  and  only  effectual  means  of  self-pro- 
tection seemed  to  be  the  ballot.  As  the  constitu- 
tion had  not  contemplated  the  extraordinary  cir- 
cumstances in  which  the  country  was  now  placed, 
and  therefore  had  not  provided  for  them,  recon- 
struction presented  a  problem  in  legislation  which 
was  unique,  and,  as  the  power  of  Congress  was 
irresistible,  its  judgment  upon  the  problem  was 
necessarily  final. 

The  war  made  heavy  taxes  a  necessity ;  and  the 
government,  following  its  ordinary  course,  raised 
these  for  the  most  part  as  indirect  taxes.  In  so 
far  as  they  were  levied  upon  imports,  the  levy 
afforded  opportunity  to  discriminate  for  the  pro- 
tection and  encouragement  of  American  products. 
The  heavy  tariff  thus  became  in  large  degree  a 
protective  tariff.  When  the  war  was  over,  a  fear- 


364  MICHIGAN. 

ful  load  of  national  debt  remained,  and  the  war 
taxes  were  continued  for  the  gradual  extinguish- 
ment of  this  debt.  But  when  the  debt  had  so  far 
diminished  that  the  heavy  taxes  could  no  longer 
be  defended  on  that  ground,  the  protected  inter- 
ests were  found  to  be  so  numerous  and  so  power- 
ful, that  they  were  quite  able  to  prevent  success  in 
any  attempt  at  considerable  reduction.  The  tariff 
thus  became  distinctively  a  tariff  for  protection  ; 
and  all  the  protected  interests  looked  to  the  fed- 
eral government  as  being  at  once,  to  some  extent 
at  least,  the  source  and  the  protector  of  their  pros- 
perity. 

It  will  be  interesting  now  to  note  the  position 
of  Michigan  relative  to  this  form  of  taxation.  For 
this  purpose  the  year  1880  may  be  taken,  up  to 
which  time  the  heavy  taxes  had  been  maintained. 

Michigan  had  now  become,  in  all  that  goes  to 
the  making  of  great  states,  conspicuous  and  power- 
ful in  the  Union.  From  having  been  the  twenty- 
sixth  State  at  the  time  of  admission,  it  has  now 
in  point  of  population  become  the  ninth.  In 
wealth,  prosperity,  and  promise,  it  is  entitled  to 
still  higher  rank.  Only  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Connecticut,  and 
New  Jersey  have  more  capital  invested  in  manu- 
factures ;  only  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Ohio  produce 
more  wheat ;  only  Ohio,  California,  and  Texas 
raise  more  sheep.  In  the  production  of  iron  ore 
and  copper,  and  in  the  manufacture  of  salt  and 


NATIONALITY  FOSTERED  BY  PROTECTION.     365 

lumber,  Michigan  is  preeminent  in  the  Union,  and 
the  shipments  from  its  mines  and  forests  deter- 
mine the  markets  for  the  country.  The  State 
has  thus  become  a  grand  and  noble  common- 
wealth ;  the  little  settlement  so  weak  and  so  far 
in  the  wilderness  when  Cass  was  sent  to  govern 
and  foster  it,  has  grown  to  mighty  dimensions. 
Its  agriculture  is  excellent ;'  its  manufactures  are 
greatly  diversified  and  generally  profitable  ;  its 
channels  of  commerce  are  all  that  can  be  desired ; 
its  people  are  intelligent,  hardy,  industrious,  and 
thrifty,  and  in  natural  resources  it  is  unsurpassed 
by  any  state.  State  pride  may  surely  find  ample 
gratification  in  the  contemplation  of  so  magnifi- 
cent a  presentation  of  happy  circumstances. 

But  some  of  the  facts  which  have  been  named 
are  calculated,  while  the  protective  system  is  con- 
tinued, to  concentrate  the  attention  upon  the  na- 
tion rather  than  upon  the  State.  The  pine  for- 
ests of  Michigan,  which  challenge  comparison 
with  any  in  the  world,  border  upon  lakes  and  riv- 
ers which  furnish  easy  avenues  to  market.  But 
only  a  few  miles  away,  Canada,  also,  has  vast  for- 
ests quite  as  favorably  situated  for  transportation 
to  market,  and  the  Canadian  lumberman  would 
compete  successfully  with  the  lumberman  of  Mich- 
igan at  every  leading  mart  in  the  country,  if  he 
were  suffered  to  do  so  on  equal  terms.  If,  there- 
fore, other  manufacturers  are  to  be  favored  by 
discriminating  duties,  the  manufacturers  of  lum- 


366  MICHIGAN. 

ber  may  point  to  the  contiguity  of  their  competi- 
tors as  constituting  a  reason  for  favoring  them, 
also,  in  like  manner. 

Whether  for  the  permanent  interest  of  the  State 
it  is  best  that  the  lumber  interest  should  be  thus 
favored,  is  a  question  about  which  the  owners  of 
forests  and  mills  will  not  very  much  concern  them- 
selves. Protective  duties  enable  them  more  quickly 
and  more  profitably  to  convert  their  forests  into 
money,  and  they  therefore  favor  them.  But^he 
duties  operate  as  a  premium  to  a  speedy  conver- 
sion of  that  which,  in  its  natural  condition,  is  yearly 
growing  more  and  more  valuable  ;  and  perhaps  if 
Canada  were  suffered  for  the  time  being  to  supply 
in  part  the  American  market,  the  permanent  in- 
terest of  the  State  would  be  subserved  thereby. 
But  when  wealth  is  coming  in,  every  one  wishes 
"  the  golden  stream  "  to  be  "  quick  and  violent." 

The  salt  manufacture  of  Michigan  finds  its  chief 
competition  in  New  York,  and  cannot  be  pro- 
tected against  it.  But  the  same  duty  on  foreign 
salt  which  would  favor  the  manufacture  in  New 
York  would  favor  it  in  Michigan  ;  and,  though  the 
interest  needs  no  protection  to  make  it  remuner- 
ative, being  generally  profitable  without,  yet  as 
the  business  employs  a  considerable  number  of 
men,  and  protective  duties  are  supposed  to  foster 
labor  and  increase  its  compensation,  the  reasons 
for  protection  to  salt  are  the  same  which  support 
protection  in  the  case  of  many  other  industries. 


SELF-INTEREST  ENCOURAGES  PROTECTION.     367 

It  perhaps  goes  without  saying  that  the  iron 
interest  will  be  favored  by  protective  duties  if  any 
is ;  and  the  protection  when  compared  with  others 
has  generally  gone  to  the  verge  of  liberality.  Of 
the  copper  mines  of  Michigan,  one  has  been  the 
most  productive  and  profitable  on  the  globe  ;  and, 
if  that  alone  were  to  be  considered,  protective  du- 
ties for.  the  purpose  of  adding  to  the  already  enor- 
mous profits  would  seem  monstrous  ;  but  many 
other  mines  have  never  made  fairly  remunerative 
returns,  and  their  abandonment  might  be  a  neces- 
sity unless  copper  also  received  some  degree  of 
protection. 

Great  quantities  of  cheap  foreign  wools  are  im- 
ported into  this  country,  and  the  impression  is 
common,  if  not  general,  among  the  wool  growers  of 
the  United  States  that  these  coarse  wools  so  far 
compete  with  the  finer  and  higher  priced  wools  of 
this  country  as  to  affect  the  price.  Whether  this 
impression  is  true  or  false,  it  has  had  its  influence 
upon  sheep  growers  in  inducing  them  to  demand 
protection,  and  upon  Congress  in  acceding  to  the 
demand. 

And  so  these  great  leading  Michigan  interests, 
of  lumber,  salt,  iron,  copper,  and  wool,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  many  less  important  interests  which  are 
also  favored  by  protective  duties,  have  sufficed  to 
rank  the  State  with  those  favoring  the  protective 
system,  and,  while  influencing  the  political  course 
of  the  people,  to  make  them  feel  at  the  same  time 


368  MICHIGAN. 

that  very  much  of  the  prosperity  of  the  State  was 
dependent  not  upon  what  the  State  could  do  to 
foster  and  protect  them,  but  upon  what  could  be 
done  and  was  being  done  by  the  general  govern- 
ment. 

The  superabundant  revenue  that  has  come  to 
the  government  as  a  result  of  heavy  taxation  has 
made  Congress  over-liberal  in  the  matter  of  ex- 
penditure. Schemes  of  doubtful  public  utility  have 
easily  found  support ;  proper  national  works  Tiave 
readily  obtained  extravagant  appropriations  ;  and 
sometimes  it  has  seemed  that  money  was  voted 
without  discrimination,  so  many  of  the  persons 
who  cast  the  votes  appearing  to  look  for  the 
benefit  in  the  tax  from  which  the  money  came, 
rather  than  in  the  purpose  which  was  to  be  accom- 
plished by  its  expenditure. 

The  geographical  position  of  Michigan  is  such 
that  the  State  has  had  an  interest  quite  as  great 
in  the  expenditure  of  the  moneys  realized  from 
protective  duties  as  in  the  duties  themselves. 
With  its  two  peninsulas  it  has,  in  proportion  to 
area,  a  longer  coast  line  of  navigable  water  than 
any  other  state.  The  rivers  St.  Clair  and  St.  Mary 
are  great  national  highways,  but  the  passage  of 
the  one  is  impeded  by  shallows,  and  that  of  the 
other  by  rapids,  and  a  considerable  expenditure  of 
money  has  been  necessary  to  make  safe  and  suffi- 
cient channels  for  commerce.  The  State  has  nu- 
merous other  rivers  flowing  from  the  interior  with 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  PENSIONS.  369 

harbors  at  their  mouths,  some  of  them  of  large 
importance,  and  some  that  only  the  most  optimis- 
tic could  see  value  in ;  but  such  of  them  as  are 
important  have  needed  improvement,  and  in  the 
river  and  harbor  bills  Michigan  has  been  able  on 
p'ausible  claims  to  secure  extensive  recognition, 
and  the  claims  have  been  allowed  to  an  extent 
that  has  seldom  left  ground  for  complaint.  And 
to  every  locality  that  has  received  a  grant  from 
the  general  government,  the  grant  has  somehow 
seemed  like  a  mere  gift,  as  if  in  some  providential 
way  the  money  had  come  to  the  national  treasury 
without  cost  to  the  people,  and  the  nation  was 
distributing  it  in  benefactions.  The  State  would 
be  powerless  to  make  such  benefactions  except  at 
a  cost  of  direct  taxes ;  and  the  people  of  the  State 
would  never  assent  to  the  levy  of  taxes  for  such 
.purposes.  In  fact,  they  have  prohibited  it  by  their 
constitution. 

An  overflowing  national  treasury  has  also  en- 
couraged liberal  pensions,  and  gradual  additions 
to  the  classes  of  pensioners,  until  the  number  of 
persons  dependent  upon  the  nation  for  bounty  of 
this  nature  has  become  enormous.  The  coinci- 
dence of  interest  between  these  classes  and  those 
in  whose  behalf  heavy  taxes  are  laid  seems  direct 
and  close  ;  and  the  more  their  number  is  increased, 
and  the  greater  their  interest,  the  more  in  their 
minds  is  the  nation  elevated,  and  made  continually 
present  as  an  entity  of  power  and  importance  at 
the  expense  of  the  Stute. 

24 


370  MICHIGAN. 

The  nation  has  also  since  the  war  made  gifts  of 
vast  areas  of  land  for  the  construction  of  railroads, 
and  loaned  large  sums  of  money  which  might  al- 
most as  well  have  been  made  gifts.  It  has  added 
to  its  postal  service  something  of  an  express  busi- 
ness, which  has  within  it  the  prophecy  of  greater 
things  to  come.  The  question  of  annexing  the 
telegraph  to  the  postal  service  is  being  urged,  and 
the  question  of  the  nation  assuming  the  regulation 
of  railways  has  for  some  time  been  before  Con- 
gress, and  is  certain  to  receive  at  some  time  in  the 
near  future  an  affirmative  solution. 

Then  the  number  of  federal  office-holders  has 
increased  until  they  constitute  a  mighty  army  : 
an  army  greater  in  number  than  that  with  which 
Wellington  at  Waterloo  changed  the  history  of 
the  world ;  greater  than  that  with  which  Meade 
won  the  decisive  victory  at  Gettysburg  in  the  cri- 
sis of  the  civil  war.  It  has  been  deemed  necessary 
to  legislate  to  prevent  elections  from  being  im- 
properly influenced  by  the  labors  and  pecuniary 
contributions  of  so  large  a  body,  directed  and  ex- 
pended as  they  are  likely  to  be  by  the  political 
machinery  of  the  party  in  power. 

After  all  these  important  changes,  these  great 
additions  to  federal  power,  federal  activity,  federal 
beneficence  to  individuals  and  localities,  and  fed- 
eral agencies  and  servants,  it  needs  scarcely  be 
said  that  it  is  not  state  action  and  state  legisla- 
tion that  most  attract  attention,  even  when  the 


THE   UNION  THAT  18  TO  BE.  371 

citizen  in  the  quiet  of  his  own  home  or  in  neigh- 
borhood gatherings  is  discussing  public  affairs. 
Everything  gravitates  to  Washington  ;  the  highest 
interests  and  the  most  absorbing  ambitions  look 
to  the  national  capital  for  gratification  ;  and  it  is 
no  longer  the  state  but  the  nation  that  in  men's 
minds  and  imaginations  is  an  ever  present  sover- 
eignty. And  this  is  as  true  of  the  states  of  which 
Jefferson  and  Calhoun  have  been  the  idols  as  it  is 
of  Massachusetts  or  Michigan. 

"  The  constitution  as  it  is  and  the  Union  as  it 
was  "  can  no  longer  be  the  motto  and  the  watch- 
word of  any  political  party.  We  may  preserve 
the  constitution  in  its  every  phrase  and  every  let- 
ter, with  only  such  modification  as  was  found  es- 
sential for  the  uprooting  of  slavery ;  but  the  Union 
as  it  was  has  given  way  to  a  new  Union  with  some 
new  and  grand  features,  but  also  with  some  en- 
grafted evils  which  only  time  and  the  patient  and 
persevering  labors  of  statesmen  and  patriots  will 
suffice  to  eradicate. 


INDEX. 


ABBOT,  Governor,  91. 
Academies,  317. 
Adams,  John  Quincy,  219,  355. 
Adrian,  239. 
Aigrement,  29.  32. 
American  Fur  Company,  192. 
Amherst,  General,  40,  41,  75. 
Ann  Arbor,  239,  317. 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  191. 

Barry,  John  S.,  294,  298. 

Bates,  Judge,  150. 

Beauharnais,  35,  36. 

Bellestre,  43. 

Bingham,  Kinsley  S.,  305. 

Bird,  Captain,  102. 

Black  Hawk  War,  212. 

Blair,  Austin,  305,  339. 

Boundary  controversy,  214  el  seq. 

Bradstreet,  General,  G3,  68. 

Brandy,  trade  in,  31-33,  51,  52. 

Brant,  Joseph,  106-109,  113,  116,  117. 

British  posts,  detention  of,  107,  114, 

115,  118. 

Brock,  General,  174,  175,  177. 
Buchanan,  President,  339. 

Cadillac,  La  Motte,  14,  17-34. 

Cahokia,  96. 

Campbell,  Major,  60. 

Canada,  colonization  of,  5;  govern- 
ment of,  8-10,  26  ;  surrender  to  the 
British,  40-44 ;  despotic  government 
of,  46,  66-78. 

Carleton,  Sir  Guy,  75,  76,  85,  110, 112, 
114. 

C  artier,  Jaques,  2. 

Cass,  Lewis,  Colonel,  167,  172,  175; 
made  military  governor,  187 ;  ap- 
pointed civil  governor,  189  ;  treaties 
with  Indians,  194  ;  visits  the  upper 
lakes,  195,  196  ;  his  bravery,  196  ; 
his  democratic  tendencies,  201,  205, 
206  ;  organizes  counties,  201  ;  be- 
comes secretary  of  war,  203 ;  his 
habits,  204 ;  favors  general  educa- 
tion, 310,  314  ;  obtains  grant  to  Uni- 


versity, 312 ;  Nicholson  letter  of, 
334 ;  favors  compromise  of  1850, 
335  ;  speaks  for  the  Union,  342. 

Catholepistemiad,  310. 

Champlaiu,  Samuel  de,  3. 

Chandler,  Elizabeth  Margaret,  243. 

Chandler,  Zachariah,  335,  340. 

Charlevoix,  35. 

Charter  contracts,  300. 

Chicago,  abandoned  in  1812,  181. 

Cholera  in  1832-34,  212. 

Cincinnati,  111. 

Civil  war,  1861-1865,  330-343. 

Clarke,  George  Rogers,  93-104. 

Clay,  Henry,  165,  166. 

Colbert,  109. 

Coles,  Edward,  138,  139. 

Colonization,  European,  1  ;  French,  5. 

Company  of  the  Colony  of  Canada,  26. 

Company  of  the  Hundred  Associates, 
6,7. 

Congress  of  Nations,  16. 

Constitution  of  the  State  of  1835,  225  ; 
of  1850,  299-304;  amendments  of, 
304. 

Constitutions,  American,  peculiar  ex- 
cellence of,  345  ;  must  necessarily 
change,  347. 

Conventions,  state,  223,  249 ;  "  frost- 
bitten," 224. 

Copper  mines,  16, 20,  78,  364. 

Corporate  charters,  300. 

Coureurs  de  bois,  21,  81,  232. 

Craig,  Governor-General,  166. 

Crapo,  Henry  H.,  292. 

Crary,  Isaac  E.,  220,  320,  321. 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  337. 

Croghan,  George,  63. 

Currency,  early,  254  et  seq. ;  cut,  257  ; 
national,  357-361 ;  wild  -  cat,  267- 
278. 

Pablon,  11,  12. 
Dalzell,  Captain,  61. 
Dane,  Nathan,  167. 
Dearborn,  Fort,  181. 
Dearborn,  General,  174. 


374 


INDEX. 


Defiance,  Fort,  182. 

Dejean,  Judge,  74,  75,  98-100. 

De  la  Barre,  22. 

Delegate  in  Congress,  William  Wood- 
bridge,  199;  Solomon  Sibley,  199; 
Gabriel  Richard,  199 ;  Austin  £. 
Wing,  200. 

Deuonville,  22. 

De  Peyster,  Captain,  91,  101,  102. 

Detroit,  importance  of,  14, 15 ;  found- 
ing of,  16-39 ,  siege  of,  by  Pontiac, 
40-65 ;  military  government  of,  66- 
78 ;  illegal  grants  at,  68-70  ;  impor- 
tance of,  in  the  Revolution,  85-103  ; 
surrender  to  the  United  States, 
118  ;  incorporation  of,  141  ;  destruc- 
tion of,  by  fire,  152 ;  Woodward, 
plan  of,  154  ;  surrender  of,  by  Hull, 
175;  Colonel  Proctor,  governor  of, 
180 ;  evacuated  by  Proctor,  187 ; 
condition  in  1837,  237  ;  capital  re- 
moved from,  296. 

Detroit  Bank,  155,  257,  258. 

Detroit  Young  Men's  Society,  239. 

Dollier,  16. 

Dongan,  Governor,  22. 

Dubuisson,  34. 

Du  Lhut,  15. 

Du  Monts,  3. 

Dunmore,  Governor,  88. 

Education,  state,  review  of,  306-329. 
Erie  &  Kalamazoo  Railroad,  279. 
Erie  Canal,  203. 
Explorations,  early,  1,  12,  16. 

Federal  relations  in  1837,  review  of, 
226 ;  after  the  Civil  War,  244-371. 

Felch,  Alpheus,  29G. 

Findlay,  Colonel,  107. 

Fort  Stauwix  treaty,  108,  111. 

Forts,  Dearborn,  181  ;  Defiance,  182  ; 
Le  Boeuf,  56,  60;  Meigs,  186;  Mi- 
ami, 43,  56,  60,  115-117;  Niagara, 
56,  00,  62,  03 ;  Ouatanon,  43, 56,  60  , 
Pitt,  56,  60  ;  Pontchartrain,  19,  29  ; 
Sandtisky,  66,  60  ;  Stephenson,  186  ; 
8t.  Joseph  on  St.  Clair  River,'  15 ; 
St.  Joseph  on  Lake  Michigan,  56, 
60  ;  Fenango,  66,  60. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  84. 

Free  schools,  303-329. 

French  farms,  190,  233. 

Frenchtown  massacre,  182-184. 

Frontenac,  Count,  9,  10. 

Fur  trade,  American,  4, 22, 23, 29, 191. 

Galline'e,  16,  17. 
Gallissoniere,  37. 
General  Banking  Law,  261,  262,  267, 

275 
Gilpiu,  Henry  D.,  212. 


Girty,  Simon,  George,  and  James,  92. 
Gladwin,  Major,  57. 
Grand  Council  at  Huron  Village,  109. 
Greenly,  William  L.,  296. 
Greenville,  Treaty  of,  117. 
Griffin,  Judge,  150. 

Haldiman,  Governor,  107. 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  347-349,  351. 
Hamilton,  Governor,  75, 85,  90. 
Harrnar,  General,  112. 
Harrison,  William  H.,  governor,  135 ; 

general,  182,  186. 
Holland  Colony,  297. 
Homer,  John  8.,  221. 
Hull,  William,  148-163. 
Hundred  Associates,  6,  7. 
Hurons,  4. 

Illinois,  attempt  to  legalize  slavery  in, 

137-139. 
Immigration    to  Michigan,   197,  202, 

203,  296. 
Indian  affairs,   bad  management  of, 

47-54. 

Indian  massacres  in  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory, 111,  112. 
Indian  trade,   rivalry  for,  4,  22,  23, 

29  ;  pathway  of,  to  Quebec,  16. 
Indian    treaties,   how  obtained,    159, 

169. 
Indiana,  attempts  to  legalize  shivery 

in,  133-139. 
Indians,  conversion  of,  20,  21,  23,  38, 

142-144  ;  use  of,  in  the  Revolution, 

86-94. 

Industries,  household,  234. 
Internal  improvements,  279-293,  2%. 
Iron  mines,  364,  367. 
Iroquois,  4,  10,  36,  106,  108,  109. 

Jackson,  President,  207,  218-220,  222. 

Jay's  Treaty,  118,  136. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  125,  126.  130,  147  ; 

constitutional    views    of,    347-349, 

351,  371. 

Jesuits,  4,  5,  10,  25, 27,  28. 
Johnson,  Sir  John,  110,  112. 
Johnson,  Sir  William,  43,  53,   62-64, 

88. 

Joliet,  12,  13. 
Joques,  10. 
Jonquiere,  37. 
Judicial  officers,  election  of,  300. 

Kaskaskia,  capture  of,  95,  96. 
Kentucky  settlements,  attacks  on,  92- 

94. 
King,  Rufus,  127. 

La  Foret,  135. 
Lamothe,  99,  100. 


INDEX. 


375 


La  Motte  Cadillac,  14,  17-34,  39. 

Land  claims,  early,  about  Detroit,  145. 

Land  speculations,  255. 

Langdale,  Captain,  91. 

Lansing,  capital  removed  to,  296. 

La  Roche,  3. 

La  Salle,  15-17. 

Lawyers,  early,  248. 

Le  Baye,  56,  63. 

Le  Boeuf ,  Fort,  56,  60. 

Legal-tender  acts,  360. 

Liberty,  English,  45,  46. 

License  laws,  300,  301,  304. 

Lincoln,  President,  336,  356. 

Liquor  traffic,  144.  See  Trade,  In- 
dian. 

Livingston,  Robert,  24 

Loan,  state,  for  internal  improve- 
ment, 283. 

Logan,  Chief,  88. 

Lucas,  Governor,  218. 

Lumber,  protection  for,  365,  366. 

Lyon,  Lucius,  220. 

Mackinaw,  102,  118,  143,  170. 

Maiden,  evacuated  by  Proctor,  187. 

Marest,  14,  29. 

Marietta,  111 

Marquette,  Jaqnes,  4,  10-13;  founds 
St.  Ignatius,  12 ;  death  of,  13. 

Marshall,  village,  239. 

Marshall,  Chief  Justice,  358. 

Mason,  John  T.,  appointed  territorial 
secretary,  207. 

Mason,  Stevens  T.,  territorial  secre- 
tary, 208 ;  acting  governor,  208, 220 ; 
not  of  age  when  appointed,  208-210 ; 
elected  governor  of  state,  219 ;  pro- 
tests against  act  of  admission,  224, 
225  ;  on  banking,  264-266,  269,  272, 
276 ;  on  internal  improvements, 
281-285. 

Massacre  of  Frenchtown,  183,  184. 

MeArthur,  Duncan,  167,  175,  312. 

McClelland,  Robert,  304. 

McDougill,  Lieutenant,  60. 

Meigs,  Fort,  186. 

Miami,  Fort,  43,  56,  60,  115-117. 

Michigan  Territory,  organized,  140 ; 
ignorance  concerning,  192, 193. 

Michigan  University,  310-329. 

Michilimackinac,  11,  14,  18,  27,  30, 
38,  78;  mission  at,  12,  13,  15,  28; 
surrender  to  the  British,  43,  44; 
capture  by  the  Indians,  60,  61 ;  be- 
comes Mackinaw,  102. 

Miller,  Colonel,  174. 

Money,  early,  254-278,357-361. 

Monopoly  in  banking,  261,  269,  275. 

Monguagon,  fight  at,  174. 

Monroe,  239. 

Montcalm,  28. 


Monteith,  John,  200,  309,  315. 

Montreal,  3,  40. 

Moravian  town,  fight  at,  187. 

Mormon  colony,  297. 

Morris  Canal  and  Ranking  Company, 

286. 

Mundy,  Edward,  219. 
Murray,  General,  75. 

National  banks,  357,  358. 

Negro  riot,  213. 

Newspapers,  early,  202. 

Niagara,  Fort,  56,  60,  62,  63. 

Northwest  Territory,  conquest  of,  79- 
104 ;  reluctant  surrender  of,  105, 
119;  land  controversy  concerning, 
105,  120-125;  government  for,  111, 
125. 

Norvell,  John,  220. 

Nouvel,  12. 

Office-holders,  federal,  370. 

Offices  as  spoils,  207. 

Ohio,  boundary  controversy  with,  214 

et  seq.  ;  currency  from,  259,  260. 
Ordinance  of  1789,  125,  127-138,  211. 
Ouatanou,  Fort,  43,  56-CO. 

Parsons,  Andrew,  305. 

Patriot  war,  253. 

Pawnee  slaves,  131. 

Peace  conference  of  1860,  337,  341. 

People  of  the  State  in  1837,  232  et  seq 

Perry's  victory,  186. 

Pierce,  John  D.,  318,  321. 

Pitt,  Fort,  56,  60. 

Pontchartrain,  18,  27,  28,  30. 

Pontchartrain,  Fort,  19,  29. 

Pontiac,  Chief,  40-66. 

Pontiac,  village,  239. 

Population  of  territory,  203,  213. 

Porter,  George  B.,  210,  212. 

Presque  Isle,  Fort,  56-60. 

Prevost,  Sir  George,  166,  174. 

Printing-press,  the  first,  202. 

Proctor,  Colonel,  180-187. 

Public  lands  in  market,  195. 

Quakers,  247,  248. 

Quebec,  founded,  3 ;  captured,  40,  45 

Radicalism  in  1849,  298. 

Railroads,  early,  249;   sale  of  state, 

289-291 ;  voting  aid  to,  292,  293. 
Randolph,  John,  134,  162-166. 
Ransom,  Epaphroditus,  296. 
Raymbault,  10. 
Reconstruction  of  states,  362. 
Relief  measures,  270,  274,  275. 
Religion,  early,  245,  248. 
Repentigny,  Chevalier  de,  38. 
Richard,  Father  Gabriel,  141,  199,  '200, 


376 


INDEX. 


309;     delegate    in    Congress,    199; 

notes  of,  for  St.  Anne,  259. 
River  Raisin  massacre,  182-184. 
Rivers  and  harbors,  368. 
Roads,  territorial,  197,  198. 
Roberval,  2. 
Rocheblave,  91. 
Rogers,  Major  Robert,  41,  78. 
Ruin  of  Indian  trade,  144 

Safety  fund  for  banks,  2C1. 

Salaries,  state,  302. 

Salt  manufacture,  3G5,  366. 

Sandusky,  Fort,  56,  60. 

Sastaretsi,  Chief,  33,  34. 

Sault  St.  Marie,  10,  15,  38,  63,  144. 

Schools,  public,  307,  329 ;  endowment 
for,  321. 

Schuyler,  General,  89. 

Secession,  336. 

Sibley,  Solomon,  199. 

Simcoe,  Governor,  114,  117. 

Six  Nations,  4,  10,  36,  106,  108,  109. 

Slavery,  129,  130,  131,  332-343,  356. 

Speculative  mania,  255,  265,  267,  274, 
289. 

Sports,  early,  250-252. 

State  and  Union  in  1837,  226-231 ; 
after  the  Civil  War,  344-371. 

State  Agricultural  College,  327. 

State  credit,  not  to  be  loaned,  302. 

State  currency,  taxed  out  of  exist- 
ence, 359. 

State  debt,  for  internal  improvements, 
283-302  ;  sinking  fund  for,  301  ;  lim- 
itation upon,  301 . 

State  economy,  303. 

State  government,  right  to,  under  or- 
dinance of  1787,  211,  213,  220 ;  peti- 
tion for,  213 ;  established,  219,  220, 
232 ;  recognized  by  Congress,  224. 

State  Normal  School,  327. 

State  products  in  1880,  364. 

State  railroads,  sale  of,  289-291,  296. 

State  School  for  Dependent  Children, 
327. 

State  script,  287,  288. 

St.  Anne's  Church,  199,  259. 

St.  Clair,  General,  110-113 ;  governor, 
130,  151,  152. 

Steamboat,  first,  202. 

Stephenson,  Fort,  186. 

Steuben,  Baron,  107. 

fit.  Ignatius  mission,  12. 


St.  Joseph,  Fort,  on  St.  Clair  River, 
15 ;  on  Lake  Michigan,  fit'.,  60. 

Strang,  John  J.,  297,  298. 

Suspension  of  specie  payments,  203- 
267. 

Tappan,  Henry  P.,  341. 

Taxation,  federal,  363. 

Tecumseh,  Chief,  160-162;  his  re- 
proach of  Proctor,  186;  his  death, 
187. 

Tecumseh,  town,  239,  247. 

Temperance  laws,  300,  304. 

Territorial  government,  vote  on 
changing,  198 ;  changes  made,  200, 
201. 

Thompson,  O.  C.,  317. 

Thurlow,  Lord,  84. 

Toledo  war,  218. 

Tontagini,  Chief,  313. 

Tonty,  19. 

Trade,  Indian,  rivalry  for,  4  ;  monopo- 
lies in,  4-8,  21,  26 ;  intermeddling 
with,  73. 

Traders,  Indian,  21,  50-53,  71,  87. 

Turnbull,  Captain,  74. 

Union  and    State    in  1837,   226-231; 

since  the  civil  war,  344-371. 
University  of  Michigan,  310-339. 

Van  Home's  defeat,  173. 
Van  Raalte,  Albertus  C.,  297. 
Vaudreuil,  29.  40,  44. 
Venango,  Fort,  56,  60 
Vincennes,  96-98. 
Voltaire,  45. 
Voyageurs,  45,  81. 

War  of  1812,  163. 

Washington,  George,  37,  115. 

Water  highways,  368,  369. 

Wayne,  General,  115-119. 

Wild-cat  banking,  267-278. 

Winchester,  General,  181-183. 

Wing,  Austin  E.,  200. 

Wisner,  Moses,  305,  339. 

Woodbridge,  William,  territorial  sec- 
retary, 190;  delegate  in  Congress, 
199  ;  acting  governor,  205 ;  removed 
as  judge,  210 ;  governor  of  state, 
274. 

Woodward,  Judge,  136,  149,  180,  258. 

Wool  in  Michigan,  364,  367. 


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